The Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) is a political party in Grenada.
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.Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p311 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. 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 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.Political Parties of the World (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 265."Jun 1995 - New Grenada Cabinet", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 41, June, 1995 Grenada, Page 40592.
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. 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,GULP/PLM Combination Produces 11 Candidates Grenada Today, 5 July 2008 but received only 478 votes and no seats.
Electoral history
House of Representatives elections Election Party leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Result 1951 Eric Gairy 13,328 64.2% 6 1st 1954 10,347 46.0% 1st 1957 10,952 44.3% 4 1st 1961 11,606 53.3% 6 1st 1962 9,705 46.0% 4 2nd 1967 15,827 54.6% 3 1st 1972 20,164 58.9% 6 1st 1976 21,108 51.7% 4 1st 1984 14,721 35.9% 8 2nd 1990 11,105 28.1% 12 2nd 1995 11,608 26.6% 2 3rd 1999 Herbert Preudhomme 4,853 11.7% 2 3rd 2003Gloria Payne Banfield 2,243 4.7% 3rd 2008 478 0.8% 3rd 2013 Did not contest 2018 2022 Geoffrey Preudhomme 64 0.1% 3rd
References