The Saint Vincent Labour Party was a
social democratic
Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
political party in
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...
from 1955 to 1994. It was the ruling party from 1967 to 1972 and again from 1974 until 1984.
History
The party was established in 1955.
[ Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p595 ] In the
1957 general elections it received 19.0% of the vote, putting it in second place, but failed to win a seat. In the
1961 elections the party received 47.9% of the vote and three seats, losing by only 336 votes to the ruling
People's Political Party, who won nine seats. In the
1966 elections they received 50.9% of the vote, but the PPP won five seats to the Labour Party's four. However,
early elections the following year saw the Labour Party increase their vote share to 53.8% and take six of the nine seats.
Despite receiving over 50% of the vote again in
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
, the elections resulted in a tie with both parties winning six seats. The sole independent candidate,
James Fitz-Allen Mitchell
Sir James Fitz-Allen Mitchell (15 May 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a Vincentian politician who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, second Prime minister, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadine ...
formed a government with his former party, the PPP, and was appointed prime minister. However, a further set of
early elections in 1974 saw the Labour Party claim 69.0% of the vote and win ten of the thirteen seats. They remained in power following the
1979 elections, but lost the
1984 elections to the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
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* The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...
. In the
1989 elections the NDP won all 15 seats. The Labour Party regained two seats in the
1994 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 1994.
Africa
* 1994 Botswana general election
* 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election
* 1994 Malawian general election
* 1994 Mozambican general election
* 1994 Namibian general election
* 1994 South Afr ...
, and on 16 October 1994 they merged with the
Movement for National Unity to form the
Unity Labour Party.
Unity Labour Party
Caribbean Elections
Party Leadership
* Milton Cato,
Electoral history
House of Assembly elections
References
Labour parties
Political parties disestablished in 1994
Political parties established in 1955
Defunct political parties in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Socialist parties in North America
1955 establishments in the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
1994 disestablishments in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
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