People's National Party
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The People's National Party (PNP) (PNP; ) is a
social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by Norman Washington Manley who served as party president until his death in 1969. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
, as 96 of the 227 local government divisions. The party is
democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...
by constitution. The party is a member of
COPPPAL The Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean (; , COPPPAL) is an international organization of political parties in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was created at the behest of the Institutional Revolutiona ...
and a full member of
Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...
. From 1957 to 1962, the party was a member of the
West Indies Federal Labour Party The West Indies Federal Labour Party (WIFLP) or ''Federalists'' was one of two main Federal parties in the short-lived West Indies Federation, the other being the West Indies Democratic Labour Party, West Indies Democratic Labour Party (DLP) o ...
in the
Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation The Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation was the bicameral legislature in West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962. It was formally made up of two houses, an appointed Senate (Upper house) and an elected House of Representatives (Lower ...
.


Colonial Jamaica

The PNP was founded in 1938 by Norman Washington Manley, and is the second oldest political party in
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
(the People's Political Party was formed earlier, on 9 September 1929, by Marcus Garvey). It is now one of the country's main two political parties, and is considered more to the
left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...
than its main rival the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). The party held a majority of seats in the parliament of the
Colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was Invasion of Jamaica (1655), captured by the The Protectorate, English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British Empire, British colon ...
from 1955 until 1962. Following independence in 1962, it held the majority of seats in the Jamaican Parliament from 1972 to 1980, from 1989 to 2007, and from 2011 to 2016. The PNP was defeated in the first universal elections held in Jamaica in 1944, winning only four of the 32 seats (one elected independent joined the party afterwards). The 1949 Jamaican general election was much closer. The PNP received more votes (203,048) than the JLP (199,538), but the JLP secured more seats; 17 to the PNP's 13. Two seats were won by independents. The voter turnout was 65.2%. In 1954, the PNP expelled Richard Hart, a
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
, and three other PNP members for their (alleged) communist views. The other three members were Ken Hill, Frank Hill, and Arthur Henry, and they were collectively referred to as "the four Hs". Under "the four Hs", the unions they officered had the largest following of any union outside of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union. Hart and the other members of "the four Hs" were very active in the trade union movement in Jamaica. In the 1940s and 1950s. Hart worked as a member of the Executive Committee of the Trade Union Council from 1946 to 1948. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Caribbean Labour Congress from 1945 to 1946 and Assistant Secretary from 1947 to 1953. The expulsion of the 'Four Hs' signalled a parting of ways between the PNP and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), which was aligned to the PNP. The National Workers Union (NWU) effectively filled the vacuum left by the TUC. The PNP came to office 1955, and held power until just before independence in 1962. In the 1955 Jamaican general election, the PNP won for the first time, securing 18 out of 32 seats. The JLP ended up with 14 seats, and there were no independents. The voter turnout with 65.1%. As a result, Norman Manley became the new chief minister. The 1959 Jamaican general election was held on 28 July 1959, and the number of seats was increased to 45. The PNP secured a wider margin of victory, taking 29 seats to the JLP's 16. Manley was appointed Jamaica's first premier on 14 August 1959. During this period of government, it promoted actively reformist social democratic policies, including opening secondary education to many poorer Jamaicans through state funding of scholarships. In the 1961 Federation membership referendum Jamaica voted 54% to leave the West Indies Federation. After losing the referendum, Manley took Jamaica to the polls in April 1962, to secure a mandate for the island's independence. On 10 April 1962, of the 45 seats up for contention in the 1962 Jamaican general election, the JLP won 26 seats and the PNP 19. The voter turnout was 72.9%. This resulted in the
independence of Jamaica The Colony of Jamaica gained independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. In Jamaica, this date is List of minor secular observances#August, celebrated as Independence Day, a national holiday. History up to independence Indigenous ...
on 6 August 1962, and several other British colonies in the West Indies followed suit in the next decade. Bustamante had replaced Manley as premier between April and August, and on independence, he became Jamaica's first prime minister.


Independent Jamaica

On 21 February, in the 1967 Jamaican general election, the JLP were victorious again, winning 33 out of 53 seats, with the PNP taking 20 seats.Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook'', Volume I, p. 430. In 1972, under the leadership of Norman Manley's son
Michael Manley Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth prime minister of Jamaica, from 1972 to 1980, and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been ...
, the PNP returned to office committed to
democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic ideology, economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and wor ...
and a foreign policy focused on strengthening relations with the
Global South Global North and Global South are terms that denote a method of grouping countries based on their defining characteristics with regard to socioeconomics and politics. According to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Global South broadly com ...
. The PNP won 37 seats to the JLP's 16. In the 1976 Jamaican general election, the PNP won another landslide, winning 47 seats to the JLP's 13. The turnout was a very high 85 percent. In
1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...
, after several years characterised by inflation and rising unemployment, the JLP led by
Edward Seaga Edward Philip George Seaga ( ; 28 May 1930 – 28 May 2019) was a Jamaican politician and record producer. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1980 to 1989, and the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005.
overwhelmingly defeated the PNP in a campaign noteworthy for its alarming level of violence. The JLP won 51 seats to the PNP's nine seats. Manley led the party in a boycott of the
snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...
called in
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
. The party was absent from parliament for more than five years. The PNP was returned to office under Manley's leadership in
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
, winning 45 seats to the JLP's 15. Manley retired from politics in 1992, and was replaced as party leader by P. J. Patterson. Patterson led the PNP to victory in
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
,
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
, and
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
, becoming the first political leader in Jamaican history to win three successive general elections. In 1993, the PNP won 52 seats to the JLP's eight seats, and in 1997 the PNP won 50 of the 60 seats available. In the 2002 election, held on 16 October 2002, the party won 52.2% of the popular vote and 34 of the 60 seats in the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
. Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p430 On 26 February 2006, Portia Simpson-Miller was elected as Patterson's successor, becoming the first female president of the PNP, and became the first female Prime Minister of Jamaica. The PNP lost the August 2007 election to the JLP by a narrow margin of 32 seats to 28, with a turnout of 61.46%. This election ended 18 years of PNP rule, and Bruce Golding became the new prime minister. In the 29 December 2011 general election, the PNP was returned to power with 42 of the 63 seats in Jamaica's parliament. At first, 41 seats were counted in favour of the PNP. A recount with official results cost the former agriculture minister, Christopher Tufton, his seat, putting the PNP at 42 and the JLP at 21. The number of seats had been increased to 63, and the voter turnout was 53.17%. On 5 January 2012, Portia Simpson-Miller was sworn in as prime minister for the second time in her political career. On the following day, she assigned 20 cabinet ministers to various ministries, and eight state ministers. In the 2016 Jamaican general election on 25 February, Simpson-Miller lost to
Andrew Holness Andrew Michael Holness, (born 22 July 1972) is a Jamaican politician who has served as Prime Minister of Jamaica since 3 March 2016, having previously served from 2011 to 2012, and as Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) since 2011. Ho ...
by a narrow margin. A recount granted the PNP an additional seat, resulting in a one-seat loss. The PNP won 31 seats to the JLP's 32. As a result, Simpson-Miller became Opposition Leader for a second time. The voter turnout dipped below 50% for the first time, registering just 48.37%. Following calls from within her own party for her to step down as party leader, Simpson-Miller announced she would not seek re-election on 4 December 2016. She was replaced by
Peter Phillips Peter Mark Andrew Phillips (born 15 November 1977) is a British businessman. He is the son of Anne, Princess Royal, and Mark Phillips, and a nephew of King Charles III. At the time of his birth during the reign of his maternal grandmothe ...
, the Shadow Minister of Finance and former rival, on 26 March 2017. She stepped down as an MP in June 2017. In the September 2020 general elections, the PNP returned to the opposition benches winning a paltry 14 of the 63 seats in the Jamaican parliament in what was described as a political carnage toppling the hierarchy of the PNP. Many senior and well-established party members lost their seats, including Peter Bunting, Dayton Campbell, Fenton Ferguson, Horace Dalley, Ian Hayles, Luther Buchanan, Wykeham McNeill, Dwayne Vaz and Richard Azan. On 4 September 2020 Peter Phillips announced that he would step down as Opposition Leader and retire from representational politics. The turnout at this election was just 37%, probably affected by the coronavirus pandemic. On 7 November 2020 the PNP elected
Mark Golding Mark Jefferson Golding (born 19 July 1965) is a Jamaican politician who has been Opposition Leader of Jamaica and President of the People's National Party since November 2020, following the 2020 Jamaican general election, 2020 general election. ...
as its 6th President after he defeated challenger
Lisa Hanna Lisa Rene Shanti Hanna (born 20 August 1975) is a Jamaican politician and beauty queen who was crowned Miss World 1993, becoming the third Jamaican to win the title. A member of the opposition People's National Party, Hanna currently serves as ...
in the 2020 People's National Party leadership election by 1,740 votes to 1,444.''Barbados Today'', "Mark Golding wins presidential race for opposition party in Jamaica", 8 November 2020 https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/11/08/mark-golding-wins-presidential-race-for-opposition-party-in-jamaica/ Retrieved 22 December 2020.


Political positions

The party adheres to
social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
and
republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology that encompasses a range of ideas from civic virtue, political participation, harms of corruption, positives of mixed constitution, rule of law, and others. Historically, it emphasizes the idea of self ...
, and is a full member of the
Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...
.


Electoral performance


House of Representatives


West Indies


List of party presidents

* Norman Manley (1938–1969) ( Founder) *
Michael Manley Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth prime minister of Jamaica, from 1972 to 1980, and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been ...
(1969–1992) * Percival James Patterson (1992–2006) * Portia Simpson-Miller (2006–2017) *
Peter Phillips Peter Mark Andrew Phillips (born 15 November 1977) is a British businessman. He is the son of Anne, Princess Royal, and Mark Phillips, and a nephew of King Charles III. At the time of his birth during the reign of his maternal grandmothe ...
(2017–2020) *
Mark Golding Mark Jefferson Golding (born 19 July 1965) is a Jamaican politician who has been Opposition Leader of Jamaica and President of the People's National Party since November 2020, following the 2020 Jamaican general election, 2020 general election. ...
(2020–present)


Previous logos

File:People's National Party (Jamaica) logo.svg, Logo of the People's National Party from 2011 - 2021. File:People's_National_Party_Logo_(pre-2011).svg, Logo of the People's National Party used prior to the 2011 election.


References


External links


Official PNP websiteParty manifesto
(
PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...
file; free download of reader availabl
here


{{Authority control Full member parties of the Socialist International Political parties established in 1938 1938 establishments in Jamaica Political parties in Jamaica Republican parties Republicanism in Jamaica Social democratic parties Socialist parties in North America