Grenada United Labour Party

Last updated
Grenada United Labour Party
Leader Geoffrey Preudhomme
Founder Eric Gairy
Founded1950 (as Grenada People's Party)
HeadquartersGladstone Road,
Grenville,
St. Andrew's
NewspaperThe Grenada Guardian
Ideology Populism [1]
Nationalism [2]
Republicanism
Conservatism [3] [4]
Labourism [2]
Political position Right-wing
ColorsRed
House of Representatives:
0 / 15
Party flag
Flag of Grenada.svg
Website
gulpgrenada.com

The Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) is a political party in Grenada.

Contents

History

The party was founded by Eric Gairy in 1950. It contested the first elections held under universal suffrage in 1951, and won six of the eight seats. [5] The 1954 elections saw the same outcome. In the 1957 elections it lost four seats, whilst two other parties, the Grenada National Party and the People's Democratic Movement also won two seats, with the GNP's leader Herbert Blaize becoming leader of the island.

The party regained power after winning eight of the ten seats in the 1961 elections. [5] It lost the 1962 elections to the GNP, before returning to power in the 1967 elections. The party remained in power following the 1972 elections, but Gairy's government became increasingly authoritarian, with his secret police (the Mongoose Gang) threatening the opposition. Following the 1976 elections, which were branded fraudulent by international observers, Gairy was overthrown in a coup in 1979.

After democracy was restored, GULP won only a single seat in the 1984 elections and has since remained in opposition. It formed an alliance with United Labour [6] for the 1999 elections, in which it lost parliamentary representation for the first time since 1951. However, it regained a seat when Michael Baptiste of the ruling New National Party defected to GULP in June 2000. [7] [8]

Gloria Payne Banfield was elected as GULP leader in February 2003, becoming Grenada's first female party leader. In the general elections the party won 3.2% of the vote but again failed to win a seat. [7] For the 2008 elections it formed an alliance with the People's Labour Movement named the Labour Platform. The alliance fielded 11 candidates for the 15 seats, [9] but received only 478 votes and no seats.

Electoral history

House of Representatives elections

ElectionParty leaderVotes %Seats+/–PositionResult
1951 Eric Gairy 13,32864.2%
6 / 8
Increase2.svg 6Increase2.svg 1stOpposing majority
1954 10,34746.0%
6 / 8
Steady2.svgSteady2.svg 1stOpposing majority
1957 10,95244.3%
2 / 8
Decrease2.svg 4Steady2.svg 1stOpposition
1961 11,60653.3%
8 / 10
Increase2.svg 6Steady2.svg 1stMajority government
1962 9,70546.0%
4 / 10
Decrease2.svg 4Decrease2.svg 2ndOpposition
1967 15,82754.6%
7 / 10
Increase2.svg 3Increase2.svg 1stMajority government
1972 20,16458.9%
13 / 15
Increase2.svg 6Steady2.svg 1stMajority government
1976 21,10851.7%
9 / 15
Decrease2.svg 4Steady2.svg 1stMajority government
1984 14,72135.9%
1 / 15
Decrease2.svg 8Decrease2.svg 2ndOpposition
1990 11,10528.1%
4 / 15
Increase2.svg 12Steady2.svg 2ndOpposition
1995 11,60826.6%
2 / 15
Decrease2.svg 2Decrease2.svg 3rdOpposition
1999 Herbert Preudhomme 4,85311.7%
0 / 15
Decrease2.svg 2Steady2.svg 3rdExtra-parliamentary
2003 Gloria Payne Banfield 2,2434.7%
0 / 15
Steady2.svgSteady2.svg 3rdExtra-parliamentary
2008 4780.8%
0 / 15
Steady2.svgSteady2.svg 3rdExtra-parliamentary
2013 Did not contest
2018
2022 Geoffrey Preudhomme640.1%
0 / 15
Steady2.svgSteady2.svg 3rdExtra-parliamentary

Related Research Articles

The history of Grenada in the Caribbean, part of the Lesser Antilles group of islands, covers a period from the earliest human settlements to the establishment of the contemporary nationstate of Grenada. First settled by indigenous peoples, Grenada by the time of European contact was inhabited by the Caribs. French colonists killed most of the Caribs on the island and established plantations on the island, eventually importing African slaves to work on the sugar plantations.

The politics of Grenada takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, whereby the prime minister is the head of government. Grenada is an independent Commonwealth realm. It is governed under a multi-party parliamentary system whose political and legal traditions closely follow those of the United Kingdom; it has a prime minister and a cabinet, and a bicameral Parliament with an elected House of Representatives and an appointed Senate. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press, worship, motion, and association. Grenada is a member of the eastern Caribbean court system. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Jurisprudence is based on English common law.

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Sir Eric Matthew Gairy PC was the first Prime Minister of Grenada, serving from his country's independence in 1974 until his overthrow in a coup by Maurice Bishop in 1979. Gairy also served as head of government in pre-independence Grenada as Chief Minister from 1961 to 1962 and as Premier from 1967 to 1974.

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Herbert Augustus Blaize PC was a Grenadian politician and leader of the Grenada National Party. When Grenada was still a British Crown Colony he served as the first Chief Minister from 1960 to 1961, and again from 1962 to 1967. He became the first Premier of the autonomous Associated State of Grenada briefly in 1967. In the first elections following the 1983 coups and the American-led invasion of Grenada, he served as Prime Minister from 1984 until his death in 1989.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1961 Grenadian general election</span> General elections in Grenada held on 27 March 1961

General elections were held in Grenada on 27 March 1961. Eric Gairy's Grenada United Labour Party won eight of the ten seats, his wife Cynthia Gairy becoming the first woman to be elected to the legislature. George E.D. Clyne of GULP became Chief Minister and served from March to August 1961 when, following the direct intervention of the British government, Gairy's political ban was lifted early, and Clyne resigned allowing Gairy to return in a by-election and become Chief Minister. Voter turnout was 55.5%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1962 Grenadian general election</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1976 Grenadian general election</span>

General elections were held in Grenada on 7 December 1976. The result was a victory for the Grenada United Labour Party of Eric Gairy, which won nine of the 15 seats, whilst the opposition People's Alliance won the remainder. However, the elections were marred by fraud, as Gairy's secret police, known as the Mongoose Gang, had been threatening the opposition. Voter turnout was 65.2%.

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References

  1. Country Review: Grenada. 2016. Houston, Texas: CountryWatch Publications, 2016. Country Review: Grenada. p. 10. Online. Available URL: http://www.countrywatch.com/content/pdfs/reviews/B398L948.01c.pdf. October 12, 2003.
  2. 1 2 "Gairy, Eric", African American Studies Center, Oxford University Press, 2005-04-07, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.41385, ISBN   978-0-19-530173-1 , retrieved 2021-11-19
  3. Mitchell, Jared (31 October 1983). "Bishop's last stand". Maclean's. Retrieved 19 November 2021.[ permanent dead link ]
  4. Hughes, Alister (26 October 1985). "Government Official Claims Destabilization Attempt". Associated Press. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p311 ISBN   978-0-19-928357-6
  6. Lansford, Tom (24 March 2015). Political Handbook of the World 2015. ISBN   9781483371559.
  7. 1 2 Political Parties of the World (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 265.
  8. "Jun 1995 - New Grenada Cabinet", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 41, June, 1995 Grenada, Page 40592.
  9. GULP/PLM Combination Produces 11 Candidates Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine Grenada Today, 5 July 2008