Jamaican Labour Party
|
Jamaica Labour Party
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Leader | Andrew Holness |
| Chairman | Robert Montague |
| General Secretary | Horace Chang |
| Founder | Alexander Bustamante |
| Founded | 8 July 1943 |
| Headquarters | Kingston, Jamaica |
| Youth wing | Young Jamaica |
| Young Professional Arm | G2K (Generation 2000) |
| Women's Group | Women's Freedom Movement (WFM) |
| Trade Union Wing | Bustamante Industrial Trade Union |
| Ideology | Conservatism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| International affiliation | International Democrat Union |
| Regional affiliation | Caribbean Democrat Union |
| House of Representatives |
32 / 63
|
| Senate |
13 / 21
|
| Local Government |
129 / 227
|
| Parish Councils |
9 / 13
|
| Website | |
| jamaicalabourparty.com | |
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 suggests 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 (House of Representatives) in the 2016 general elections. In the November 2016 Local Government Elections, the party won outrightly eight (8) of the fourteen (14) 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 and with the JLP winning the popular vote in St. Thomas, the JLP gets control and 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.
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.
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Wikipedia