The Dominica Labour Party is a

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

History

Founded in 1955 by

Phyllis Shand Allfrey Phyllis Byam Shand Allfrey (24 October 1908 – 4 February 1986) was a West Indian writer, socialist activist, newspaper editor and politician of the island of Dominica in the Caribbean. She is best known for her first novel, '' The Orchid Hous ...

and Emmanuel Christopher Loblack, the Dominica Labour Party is the oldest political party in Dominica. Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p225 It first contested general elections in

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

, winning seven of the eleven seats, and party leader Edward Leblanc became

Premier of Dominica Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. In the next elections in 1966 it won all but one of the seats. The party split and former leader Leblanc won the 1970 elections under the banner of Leblanc Labour Party. Leblanc retired in 1974, and he was succeeded by Patrick John. A fourth consecutive victory was achieved in the 1975 elections when it won 16 of the 21 seats. John was ousted as Prime Minister in summer 1979. In

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

the party led by John suffered a major defeat, seeing its vote share reduced from 50% to 17%, and losing all its seats as the Dominica Freedom Party won the elections. In 1983

Oliver Seraphin Oliver James "O. J." Seraphin (or Seraphine; born 2 August 1943) is a former Dominican politician. He served as the Minister of communication and works and housing for the Labour Party government from 1975 to 1979 and acting List of heads of gov ...

was elected party leader with Patrick John as his deputy. United Dominica Labour Party led by

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the ...

merged back to Labour Party in 1985, and Douglas was elected leader with Seraphin as his deputy. The party regained five seats in the 1985 elections, losing one in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

and gaining one in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. In the 2000 elections, the party regained power for the first time since 1975, winning 10 of the 21 seats and forming a coalition with the DFP, after which Roosevelt "Rosie" Douglas became Prime Minister. However, on 1 October, 2000 Douglas died suddenly after only a few months in office and was replaced by Pierre Charles. On 6 January, 2004, Charles, who had been suffering from heart problems since 2003, also died. After the death of Pierre Charles, Foreign Minister Osborne Riviere acted as Prime Minister, until Education Minister

Roosevelt Skerrit Roosevelt Skerrit (born 8 June 1972) is a Dominican politician who has been Prime Minister of Dominica since 2004; he has also been the Member of Parliament for the Vieille Case constituency since 2000. Regionally, he has served as the chairman o ...

was named political leader of the party and sworn in as Prime Minister. Under the leadership of Roosevelt Skerrit, the party won 12 seats in the 2005 elections and remained in office. In the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

general elections the Dominica Labour Party scored a third consecutive victory winning 18 of the 21 seats, despite the opposition's claims of campaign improprieties.

Leadership

* Edward Oliver LeBlanc, 1961-1970 * Nicholson Ducreay, 1970 * Edward Oliver LeBlanc, 1970-1974 * Patrick John, 1974-1983 *

, 1983-1985 *

, 1985-1992 * Rosie Douglas, 1992-2000 * Pierre Charles, 2000-2004 *

, since 2004

Electoral history

House of Assembly elections

References

External links

Official party website

Political Parties of the Americas, 1980s to 1990s
{{Authority control Labour parties Former member parties of the Socialist International Political parties in Dominica Political parties established in 1957