Jamaica Labour Party

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in several other Commonwealth realms such as Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom), the JLP is actually a conservative party.[10][11][12] However, it has longstanding ties to the Jamaican labour movement.

Jamaica Labour Party
LeaderAndrew Holness
ChairmanRobert Montague
General SecretaryHorace Chang
Founded8 July 1943 (1943-07-08)
Headquarters20 Belmont Road, Kingston 5
Youth wingYoung Jamaica
Generation 2000
Women's GroupWomen's Freedom Movement (WFM)
Trade Union WingBustamante Industrial Trade Union
IdeologyNationalism[1][2][3]
Populism
Fiscal conservatism[4]
Conservatism[5][6][7]
Fabianism (originally)[3]
Political positionCentre-right[8][9]
Regional affiliationCaribbean Democrat Union
Colors     Green
House of Representatives
33 / 63
Senate
13 / 21
Local Government
129 / 227
Parish Councils
9 / 13
Website
www.jamaicalabourparty.com

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 general elections. The JLP gained another seat in the November 2017 St Mary South East By-Election, increasing its majority to 33 to the PNP's 30.

In the November 2016 Local Government Elections, the party won eight of the fourteen municipal corporations (Kingston & St. Andrew, Clarendon, St. Elizabeth, St. James, Trelawny, St. Ann, St. Mary and Portland). With a 5-5 tie in the St. Thomas Municipal Corporation. Coupled with the JLP winning the popular vote in St. Thomas, the JLP gets control. Therefore the mayorship and the PNP gets the deputy mayorship.

The JLP uses the Liberty Bell, the victory sign, and the colour green as electoral symbols. The JLP is a member of the Caribbean Democrat Union.

History

The party was founded on 8 July 1943 by Alexander Bustamante as the political wing of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union. Bustamante had previously been a member of the PNP.

It won the 1944 general elections with 22 of the 32 seats.[13] 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.

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 as of the 21 February 1967 elections. 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 for the first time to the People's National Party and Michael Manley in 1972. Shearer served as Opposition Leader until 1974.

Bustamante finally gave up the post of party leader in 1974, and Edward Seaga was elected his successor. 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 Prime Minister in October 2011 and was succeeded by current leader Andrew Holness. Soon after becoming leader, Holness called an election over a year before it was constitutionally due, and the party lost by a 2:1 margin to the PNP. Holness was not blamed for the defeat, and 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 Finance Audley Shaw. Holness defeated Shaw by a margin of 2,704 votes to Shaw's 2,012.[14]

Holness went on to lead the JLP to a one-seat parliamentary majority (32-31) in the February 25, 2016 general elections, reducing the PNP to the opposition benches after one term.

Political positions
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The JLP is a conservative party. It believes in a market-driven economy and individual personal responsibility.

In May 2008, in an interview with Stephen Sackur of the BBC, Bruce Golding PM and Party Leader declared that any cabinet formed by him would exclude any MP known to be gay.[15] 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.[16] He justified the illegality of homosexual acts by referring to Christian values and the integrity of the family.[17][18]

Electoral performance

House of Representatives


Election Leader Votes Share of votes Seats Result
1944 William Alexander Clarke Bustamante 144,661 41.4%
22 / 32
 Government
1949 William Alexander Clarke Bustamante 199,538 42.7%
17 / 32
 Government
1955 William Alexander Clarke Bustamante 189,929 39.0%
14 / 32
 Opposition
1959 William Alexander Clarke Bustamante 247,149 44.3%
16 / 45
 Opposition
1962 Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante 288,130 50.0%
26 / 45
 Government
1967 Sir Donald Burns Sangster 224,180 50.7%
33 / 53
 Government
1972 Hugh Lawson Shearer 205,587 43.4%
16 / 53
 Opposition
1976 Edward Phillip George Seaga 318,180 43.2%
13 / 60
 Opposition
1980 Edward Phillip George Seaga 502,115 58.3%
51 / 60
 Government
1983 Edward Phillip George Seaga 23,363 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.
1989 Edward Phillip George Seaga 362,589 42.9%
15 / 60
 Opposition
1993 Edward Phillip George Seaga 263,711 39.1%
8 / 60
 Opposition
1997 Edward Phillip George Seaga 297,387 38.6%
10 / 60
 Opposition
2002 Edward Phillip George Seaga 360,468 46.9%
26 / 60
 Opposition
2007 Orette Bruce Golding 410,438 50.0%
32 / 60
 Government
2011 Andrew Michael Holness 405,920 46.3%
21 / 63
 Opposition
2016 Andrew Michael Holness 436,972 49.5%
32 / 63
 Government

West Indies
See also: West Indies Democratic Labour Party, 1958 West Indies federal elections, West Indies Federation, and Federal Parliament of the West Indies Federation


Election Party Group Leader Votes Seats Position Government
No. Share No. Share
1958[19] WIFLP William Alexander Clarke Bustamante 451,233 52.2%
12 / 17
 70.6% 1st WIFLP

List of party leaders
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.

References
  1. King, Cheryl L. A. (2003). Wipf and Stock Publishers (ed.). Michael Manley and Democratic Socialism: Political Leadership and Ideology in Jamaica. p. 1.
  2. Monteith, Kathleen E. A.; Richards, Glen (2001). University of the West Indies Press (ed.). Jamaica in Slavery and Freedom: History, Heritage and Culture. pp. 365–366.
  3. Austin, Diane J. (1987). Taylor & Francis (ed.). Urban Life in Kingston, Jamaica: The Culture and Class Ideology of Two Neighborhoods. p. 13.
  4. Davidson, Vernon (29 March 2015). "Holness outlines the JLP's philosophy". Jamaica Observer.
  5. "Jamaica country profile". BBC. 10 January 2018.
  6. Thomason, Ian (2009). Faber & Faber (ed.). The Dead Yard: Tales of Modern Jamaica. p. 68.
  7. Wallace, Elisabeth (1977). University of Toronto Press (ed.). The British Caribbean from the Decline of Colonialism to the End of Federation. University of Toronto Press. p. 41.
  8. Axel Klein; Marcus Day; Anthony Harriott (13 November 2004). Caribbean Drugs: From Criminalization to Harm Reduction. Zed Books. pp. 70–. ISBN 978-1-84277-499-1.
  9. Robin Gauldie (July 2007). Jamaica. New Holland Publishers. pp. 17–. ISBN 978-1-84537-859-2.
  10. Charles Green (9 May 2002). Manufacturing Powerlessness in the Black Diaspora: Inner-City Youth and the New Global Frontier. AltaMira Press. pp. 133–. ISBN 978-0-585-38626-3.
  11. Sherry Paprocki; Sean Dolan (1 January 2009). Bob Marley: Musician. Infobase Publishing. pp. 76–. ISBN 978-1-4381-0072-2.
  12. Nancy Foner (20 August 2013). One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the 21st Century. Columbia University Press. pp. 235–. ISBN 978-0-231-53513-7.
  13. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, pp432-435 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  14. "Real 'Man A Yaad' - Holness clobbers Shaw to remain JLP leader".
  15. Premierminister: Homosexualität ist nicht jamaikanisch, queer.de, 23. Mai 2008 (german)
  16. "Golding says 'no' to homosexuality" Archived 14 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Jamaica Observer, 8 July 2007
  17. Violent prejudice against Jamaica's gay people must stop retrieved 19 May 2012
  18. Is Jamaica homophobic retrieved 19 May
  19. "Jamaica Observer Limited". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
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