People's National Party
|
|
---|---|
Leader | Peter David Phillips |
President | Peter David Phillips |
Chairperson | Fitz Jackson |
Secretary | Julian Robinson |
Founded | 1938 |
Headquarters | Kingston, Jamaica |
Youth wing | People's National Party Youth Organization |
Ideology |
Social democracy Democratic socialism Third Way Republicanism |
Political position | Centre-left |
International affiliation | Socialist International (observer) |
House of Representatives |
31 / 63
|
Senate |
8 / 21
|
Local Government |
96 / 227
|
Parish Councils |
4 / 13
|
Website | |
[1] | |
The People's National Party (PNP) is a social-democraticpolitical party in Jamaica founded in 1938 under the leadership of Norman Manley. It holds 31 of 63 seats in the House of Representatives, as well as a majority of local government bodies with 151 of the 228 divisions. The party is democratic socialist by constitution.
The PNP uses the hatted head, the rising sun, the fist, the trumpet and the colours orange, red and yellow as electoral symbols.
The PNP was founded in 1938 and is the oldest political party in Jamaica. It is one of the main two political parties in Jamaica and is considered more to the left than its main rival, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). The PNP held a majority of seats in the parliament of colonial Jamaica from 1955 until 1962. Following independence in 1962 it held the majority of seats in the Jamaican Parliament from 1972 to 1980, from 1989 to 2007, and from 2011 to 2016.
The PNP was defeated in the first universal elections held in Jamaica in 1944, winning only four of the 32 seats (one elected independent joined the party afterwards). It came to office again in 1955, and held office until just before independence in 1962. The party was defeated that year by its principal rival, the JLP. During this period of government, it promoted actively reformist social democratic policies, including opening secondary education to many poorer Jamaicans through state funding of scholarships.
Ten years later, under the leadership of its founder's son, Michael Manley, it returned to office committed to democratic socialism and a foreign policy focused on strengthening relations with the Global South. In 1980, the JLP led by Edward Seaga overwhelmingly defeated the PNP, after several years characterised by inflation and rising unemployment, and in a campaign noteworthy for an alarming level of violence. Manley led the party in a boycott of the snap election called in 1983. The party was absent from parliament for more than five years.