Jamaica Labour Party
The Jamaica Labour Party is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party. While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party, the JLP is actually a conservative party. However, it has longstanding ties to the Jamaican labour movement.
It is the current governing party, having won 32 of the 63 parliamentary seats in the lower house of parliament 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. 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. 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 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.
Holness went on to lead the JLP to a one-seat parliamentary majority in the February 25, 2016 general elections, reducing the PNP to the opposition benches after one term.
Political positions
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. 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. He justified the illegality of homosexual acts by referring to Christian values and the integrity of the family.
Electoral performance
House of Representatives
| Election | Leader | Votes | Share of votes | Seats | Result |
| 1944 | William Alexander Clarke Bustamante | 144,661 | 41.4% | ||
| 1949 | William Alexander Clarke Bustamante | 199,538 | 42.7% | ||
| 1955 | William Alexander Clarke Bustamante | 189,929 | 39.0% | ||
| 1959 | William Alexander Clarke Bustamante | 247,149 | 44.3% | ||
| 1962 | Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante | 288,130 | 50.0% | ||
| 1967 | Sir Donald Burns Sangster | 224,180 | 50.7% | ||
| 1972 | Hugh Lawson Shearer | 205,587 | 43.4% | ||
| 1976 | Edward Phillip George Seaga | 318,180 | 43.2% | ||
| 1980 | Edward Phillip George Seaga | 502,115 | 58.3% | ||
| 1983 | Edward Phillip George Seaga | 23,363 | 88.0% |
| |
| 1989 | Edward Phillip George Seaga | 362,589 | 42.9% | ||
| 1993 | Edward Phillip George Seaga | 263,711 | 39.1% | ||
| 1997 | Edward Phillip George Seaga | 297,387 | 38.6% | ||
| 2002 | Edward Phillip George Seaga | 360,468 | 46.9% | ||
| 2007 | Orette Bruce Golding | 410,438 | 50.0% | ||
| 2011 | Andrew Michael Holness | 405,920 | 46.3% | ||
| 2016 | Andrew Michael Holness | 436,972 | 49.5% |
West Indies
List of party leaders
- Sir Alexander Bustamante
- Sir Donald Sangster
- Hugh Shearer
- Edward Seaga
- Bruce Golding
- Andrew Holness