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Jamaica Labour Party

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jamaica Labour Party

Leader Andrew Holness

Founder Alexander Bustamante

Chairman Robert Montague

General Secretary Horace Chang

Founded 8 July 1943

Headquarters Kingston, Jamaica 

Youth wing Young Jamaica

Young Professional

ArmG2K (Generation 2000)

Women's GroupWomen's Freedom Movement

(WFM)

Trade Union WingBustamante Industrial Trade

Union

Ideology Conservatism

Political position Centre-right[1][2] 

International affiliation International Democrat Union

Regional affiliation Caribbean Democrat Union

House of

Representatives32 / 63

Senate   13 / 21

Local Government   75 / 227

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Parish Councils 0 / 13

Website

 jamaicalabourparty.com

Politics of Jamaica 

Political parties 

Elections 

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the

People's National Party (PNP). Despite its name, the JLP is a conservative[3][4][5] political party, albeit one

with ties to the Jamaican labour movement due to its history. The JLP is a member of the Caribbean

Democrat Union. 

It is the current governing party, having won 32 of the 63 parliamentary seats in the lower house of

parliament (House of Representatives) in the 2016 elections. The party did not win any of the localgovernment councils (municipalities) in the 2012 local elections.

The JLP uses the Liberty Bell, the victory sign, and the colour green as electoral symbols.

Contents

  1 Political background 

  2 Electoral Performance 

  3 List of party leaders 

  4 References 

  5 External links 

Political background

The party was founded on 8 July 1943 by Alexander Bustamante as the political wing of the Bustamante

Industrial Trade Union. It won the 1944 general elections with 22 of the 32 seats.[6] It went on to win the

1949 elections with a reduced majority, before losing power to the PNP in the 1955 elections. It

remained in opposition following the 1959 elections, but was victorious in 1962 and was therefore the

Government when Jamaica gained its political independence from Great Britain on 6 August 1962.

In 1964 Bustamante retired from politics, but he did not relinquish the title of party leader for several

years until the party gave him the honorific title of "The Chief" following its defeat in the 1972 elections. In the interim the party's effective head was First Deputy Leader Donald Sangster who led the party to

victory at the polls on 21 February 1967. 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 came out on top in

the first ballot, with Shearer and Robert Lightbourne being the other candidates. Shearer led the JLP to

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election defeat against the People's National Party's Michael Manley in 1972 and served as Opposition

Leader until 1974. Both Sangster and Shearer served as prime ministers while Bustamante remained

party leader: they both had the title of "First Deputy Leader" of the JLP while they served as Prime

Minister.

In 1974 Edward Seaga was elected the second leader of the party. The party lost the 1976 elections, but

Seaga became Prime Minister after victory in 1980 when the party won by a landslide, capturing 51 of

the then 60 parliamentary seats. In 1983 with the JLP achieving a spike in popularity, in part because of

Seaga's support of the US-led military invasion of Grenada, Seaga called early elections and won all sixty

seats, the majority by acclamation, mainly because the opposition PNP boycotted those elections. The

JLP suffered defeat in the 1989 elections and went on to lose elections in 1993, 1997 and 2002, all under

the continued leadership of Seaga.

In 2005 Bruce Golding succeeded Seaga as leader of the party, and led it to victory in the 2007 elections. 

Golding resigned as head of the party and head of government in October 2011 and was succeeded by

current leader Andrew Holness, who served as prime minister until January 2012, when he assumed the

position as Opposition Leader. Holness called the 2011 elections, over a year before it was

constitutionally due, and the party lost by a 2:1 margin to the PNP.

The party held a leadership election on 10 November 2013 where incumbent party leader (and Leader

of the Opposition), Andrew Holness, was challenged by party deputy leader and Shadow Minister for

Finance, Audley Shaw. Holness defeated Shaw by a margin of 2,704 votes to Shaw's 2,012.[7] 

Electoral Performance

Election Leader Votes

Share

of

votes

Seats Result

1944

William

Alexander Clarke

Bustamante

144,661 41.4% 22 /

32Government

1949

William

Alexander Clarke

Bustamante

199,538 42.7% 17 /

32Government

1955

William

Alexander Clarke

Bustamante

189,929 39.0% 14 /

32Opposition

1959

William

Alexander Clarke

Bustamante

247,149 44.3% 16 /

45Opposition

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Election Leader Votes

Share

of

votes

Seats Result

1962

Sir William

Alexander ClarkeBustamante

288,130 50.0% 

26 /

45 Government

1967Sir Donald Burns

Sangster224,180 50.7% 

33 /

53Government

1972Hugh Lawson

Shearer205,587 43.4% 

16 /

53Opposition

1976Edward Phillip

George Seaga318,180 43.2% 

13 /

60Opposition

1980Edward Phillip

George Seaga502,115 58.3% 

51 /

60Government

1983Edward Phillip

George Seaga23,363  88.0% 

60 /

60

Government

  PNP boycotted the elections. JLP won the 6

seats contested along with independent

candidates and gained the other 54 for

which only the JLP had nominees.

1989Edward Phillip

George Seaga

362,589 42.9% 15 /

60

Opposition

1993Edward Phillip

George Seaga263,711 39.1%  8 / 60 Opposition

1997Edward Phillip

George Seaga297,387 38.6% 

10 /

60Opposition

2002Edward Phillip

George Seaga360,468 46.9% 

26 /

60Opposition

2007

Orette Bruce

Golding 410,438 50.0% 

32 /

60 Government

2011Andrew Michael

Holness405,920 46.3% 

21 /

63Opposition

2016Andrew Michael

HolnessTBD  TBD 

32 /

63Government

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List of party leaders

  Sir Alexander Bustamante (1943 –1974)

  Sir Donald Sangster (acting: 1965 –1967)1 

  Hugh Shearer (acting: 1967 –1974)1 

  Edward Seaga (1974 –2005)

  Bruce Golding (2005 –2011)

  Andrew Holness (2011 –present)

1.^ Donald Sangster and Hugh Shearer were not actually leaders of the JLP but were de facto leaders

during Bustamante's illness/withdrawal from active political life.