Jamaica Labour Party Jumieka Lieba Paati | |
|---|---|
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| Leader | Andrew Holness |
| Chairman | Robert Montague |
| General Secretary | Horace Chang |
| Founder | Alexander Bustamante |
| Founded | 8 July 1943 (1943-07-08) |
| Split from | People's National Party |
| Headquarters | 20 Belmont Road,Kingston 5 |
| Youth wing | Young Jamaica Generation 2000 |
| Women's Group | Women's Freedom Movement (WFM) |
| Trade Union Wing | Bustamante Industrial Trade Union |
| Ideology | |
| Political position |
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| Regional affiliation | Caribbean Democrat Union West Indies Democratic Labour Party (1957–1961) |
| Colors | Green |
| Anthem | "The JLP Anthem"[16] |
| House of Representatives | 49 / 63 |
| Senate | 13 / 21 |
| Local Government | 113 / 228 |
| Municipal Councils | 7 / 14 |
| Election symbol | |
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| Website | |
jamaicalabourparty | |
TheJamaica Labour Party (JLP;Jamaican Patois:Jumieka Lieba Paati) is one of the two majorpolitical parties in Jamaica, the other being thePeople's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is asocial democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in several otherCommonwealth realms such asAustralia,New Zealand and theUnited Kingdom), the JLP is actually aconservative party, besides that it embracedFabianism.[17][18][19]
It is the current governing party, having won 49 of the 63 parliamentary seats in the lower house of parliament (House of Representatives) in the2020 general elections.
The JLP uses a bell, thevictory sign, and the colourgreen as electoral symbols. The JLP is a member of theCaribbean Democrat Union.
The party was founded on 8 July 1943 byAlexander Bustamante as the political wing of theBustamante Industrial Trade Union. Bustamante had previously been a member of the PNP.
It won the1944 general elections with 22 of the 32 seats.[20] It went on to win the1949 elections with a reduced majority. 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%.
The JLP lost power to the PNP in the1955 elections. 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 was 65.1%. As a result,Norman Manley became the new chief minister.[21]
The JLP remained in opposition following the1959 Jamaican general election, when 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 appointedJamaica's first premier on 14 August 1959.[22]
In the1961 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 the1962 Jamaican general election, the JLP won 26 seats and the PNP 19. The voter turnout was 72.9%.[23]
This resulted in theindependence of Jamaica 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.
Bustamante suffered a stroke in 1964 and largely withdrew from politics. However, he did not relinquish the title of party leader for another decade.Donald Sangster took over as acting prime minister after Bustamante's stroke. He was named First Deputy Leader in 1967, and led the party to victory in the 21 February1967 Jamaican general election. The JLP won 33 out of 53 seats, with the PNP taking 20 seats.[24]
Sangster suffered a brain hemorrhage and died about six weeks after the elections, while he was preparing for his budget presentation.
Hugh Shearer succeeded Sangster as first deputy leader and prime minister, defeating David Clement (DC) Tavares by two votes in a run-off by of the JLP parliamentarians. Tavares had come out on top in the first ballot, with Shearer and Robert Lightbourne being the other candidates. Under Shearer, the JLP lost power in independent Jamaica for the first time to thePeople's National Party andMichael Manley in1972. The PNP won 37 seats to the JLP's 16.[24]
Shearer served as opposition leader until 1974. Bustamante finally gave up the post of party leader in 1974, andEdward Seaga was elected his successor. The party lost the1976 elections, the PNP winning 47 seats to the JLP's 13. The turnout was a very high 85 percent.[24]
Seaga became prime minister after victory in1980 when the party won by a landslide, capturing 51 of the then 60 parliamentary seats.[24]
In 1983 with the JLP achieving a spike in popularity, in part because of Seaga's support of the US-led militaryinvasion of Grenada, Seaga calledearly elections and won all sixty seats, the majority by acclamation, mainly because the opposition PNP boycotted those elections. The JLP suffered defeat in the1989 elections. The PNP won 45 seats to the JLP's 15.[24]
The JLP went on to lose elections in1993,1997 and2002, all under the continued leadership of Seaga. In 1993, the PNP, led byP.J. Patterson, won 52 seats to the JLP's eight seats, while in 1997 the PNP won 50 of the 60 seats available.[24] In the2002 Jamaican general election, the PNP retained power with a reduced seat majority of 34 seats to 26.[25] Patterson stepped down on 26 February 2006, and was replaced byPortia Simpson-Miller, Jamaica's first female prime minister.
In 2005Bruce Golding succeeded Seaga as leader of the party, and led it to victory in the2007 elections by a narrow margin of 32 seats to 28, with a turnout of 61.46%.[26] This election ended 18 years of PNP rule, andBruce Golding became the new prime minister.[27]
Golding resigned as head of the party and prime minister in October 2011 and was succeeded byAndrew Holness. Soon after becoming leader, Holness calledan election over a year before it was constitutionally due, and the party lost by a 2:1 margin to the PNP. Portia Simpson-Miller and the PNP returned to power. The number of seats had been increased to 63, and the PNP swept to power with a landslide 42 seats to the JLP's 21. The voter turnout was 53.17%.[28]
Holness continued to lead the party as opposition leader. The party held a leadership election on 10 November 2013 where Holness was challenged by his deputy, Shadow Minister for FinanceAudley Shaw. Holness defeated Shaw by a margin of 2,704 votes to Shaw's 2,012.[29]
Holness went on to lead the JLP to a narrow, one-seat parliamentary majority (32–31) in the2016 general election, reducing the PNP to the opposition benches after one term. The voter turnout dipped below 50% for the first time, registering just 48.37%.[30]
In the2020 general election, Andrew Holness made history for the JLP by accomplishing a second consecutive win for the Jamaica Labour Party, winning 49 seats to 14 won by the PNP, led this time byPeter Phillips. The last time a consecutive win occurred for the JLP was in 1980. However, the turnout at this election was just 37%, probably affected by the coronavirus pandemic.[31] This is what Jamaicans classified as a "landslide victory".[32][33][34][35]
The JLP is a conservative party. It believes in amarket-driven economy and individual personal responsibility.
In its coverage of the1967 general election,The Guardian identified the JLP as aleft-of-centre party, only slightly to the right of the PNP.[36]
In May 2008, in an interview withStephen Sackur of theBBC,Bruce Golding PM and Party Leader declared that anycabinet formed by him would exclude any MP known to be gay.[37] In previous statements, Golding stated that he and his party strongly opposed public displays of homosexuality in Jamaica and that he felt that they should continue to be illegal in keeping with Jamaican societal norms.[38] He underlined theillegality of homosexual acts by citing Christian values and the integrity of the family.[39][40]
Since the 1990s, the JLP has stated its intention for Jamaica to be a republic, thus dropping theBritish monarchy as its head of state.Following Barbados' transition to a republic in 2021, Prime Minister and JLP leaderAndrew Holness suggested that a referendum on republicanism could be held in Jamaica in 2025.[41] "Jamaica is, as you would see, a country that is very proud of our history and very proud of what we have achieved," Holness said in June 2022. "And we intend to attain, in short order, our development goals and fulfill our true ambitions and destiny as an independent, developed, prosperous country."[42]
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org. |
| Election | Leader | Votes | Share of votes | Seats | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | Alexander Bustamante | 144,661 | 41.4% | 22 / 32 | Supermajority Government |
| 1949 | 199,538 | 42.7% | 17 / 32 | Majority government | |
| 1955 | 189,929 | 39.0% | 14 / 32 | Opposition | |
| 1959 | 247,149 | 44.3% | 16 / 45 | Opposition | |
| 1962 | 288,130 | 50.0% | 26 / 45 | Majority government | |
| 1967 | Donald Sangster | 224,180 | 50.7% | 33 / 53 | Majority government |
| 1972 | Hugh Shearer | 205,587 | 43.4% | 16 / 53 | Opposition |
| 1976 | Edward Seaga | 318,180 | 43.2% | 13 / 60 | Opposition |
| 1980 | 502,115 | 58.3% | 51 / 60 | Supermajority government | |
| 1983 | 23,363 | 88.0% | 60 / 60 | Supermajority government | |
| 1989 | 362,589 | 42.9% | 15 / 60 | Opposition | |
| 1993 | 263,711 | 39.1% | 8 / 60 | Opposition | |
| 1997 | 297,387 | 38.6% | 10 / 60 | Opposition | |
| 2002 | 360,468 | 46.9% | 26 / 60 | Opposition | |
| 2007 | Bruce Golding | 410,438 | 50.0% | 32 / 60 | Majority government |
| 2011 | Andrew Holness | 405,920 | 46.3% | 21 / 63 | Opposition |
| 2016 | 436,972 | 49.5% | 32 / 63 | Majority government | |
| 2020 | 406,085 | 57.1% | 49 / 63 | Supermajority government |
| Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org. |
| Election | Party Group | Leader | Votes | Seats | Position | Government | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Share | No. | Share | ||||||||
| 1958[43] | DLP | William Alexander Clarke Bustamante | 451,233 | 52.2% | 12 / 17 | 70.6% | 1st | WIFLP | |||
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The Jamaica Labour Party ( JLP ) is a centrist party and is loosely organized at present .
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| National | |
