The Honduran Independence Party was a short-lived 1950s political party in Belize. It was essentially a splinter group of the

People's United Party The People's United Party (PUP) is one of two major political parties in Belize. It is currently the governing party of Belize after success in the 2020 Belizean general election, winning a majority of 26 seats out of 31 in the Belizean House ...

(PUP).

Background: Central Committee resignations

A convention held by the People's United Party on September 27, 1956 settled a long political dispute that had hindered the party's development for some time. 10 members of the Central executive of the PUP, led by

Leigh Richardson Leigh Richardson (26 April 1924 – 27 October 2008) was a Honduran-born Belizean politician. Richardson served as the leader of the People's United Party in the 1950s, and also as mayor of Belize City. Early life Richardson was born to Belizea ...

and

Phillip Goldson Philip Stanley Wilberforce Goldson (25 July 1923 – 3 October 2001) was a Belizean newspaper editor, activist and politician. He served in the House of Representatives of Belize as member for the Albert constituency from 1965 to 1998 and twice ...

, resigned and vowed to form their own political party.

Formation and leaders

The HIP was formed on October 4, 1956, and elected its leaders on October 15. They included: * Party Leader

* Deputy

* Chairman William Coffin * Vice Chairman Frank Tench

Aims

* Belizean

self-government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

within the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

* Higher

standard of living Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available, generally applied to a society or location, rather than to an individual. Standard of living is relevant because it is considered to contribute to an individual's quality ...

for all with more training and opportunity * Cooperation with management and labour for the betterment of the country.

Reception by Belizeans

As the HIP prepared to contest the 1957 general election, Belizeans had a few questions for them. How serious was the PUP split, and could it be repaired? If the party wanted independence, even eventually as the name suggested, why split with the PUP in the first place? And just what the heck was "Honduras", anyway? (Shoman). A puzzled electorate offered nearly 18% of its votes, but no seats, to the new party, placing them second behind the victorious PUP. For a summary of results, see

1957 British Honduras legislative election General elections were held in British Honduras on 20 March 1957. The ruling People's United Party won all nine seats contested.National Party (Belize) The National Party of Belize (NP) was a political party established mainly to fight the anti-colonialist movement propagated by the People's United Party (PUP). It had only minimal success and was eventually deregistered. The Party was established ...

(NP) to ask for a merger. The details were worked out in early summer, and the HIP was dissolved on June 25, 1958 (one day before the NP) and merged to form the

National Independence Party (Belize) {{Infobox political party , colorcode = {{party color, National Independence Party (Belize) , name = National Independence Party , leader = Herbert FullerPhilip Goldson , foundation = 1 July 1958 , dissolution = 27 September 1973 , merger = ...

on July 1.

References

Assad Shoman's ''13 Chapters'' history text and Lawrence Vernon's "History of Political Parties" essay in ''Readings in Belizean History'' both have sections on the HIP.

Background: Central Committee resignations

Formation and leaders

Aims

Reception by Belizeans

References

See also