People's National Party
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For other uses, see Peoples National Party (disambiguation).
Template:Politics of Jamaica The People's National Party (PNP) is a left-wing Jamaican political party, founded by Norman Manley in 1938. They have had the majority in the Jamaican parliament between 1972 and 1980 and from 1989 until today (-04, next election in Jamaica will be held in 2005).
The PNP was defeated in the first universal suffrage elections held in Jamaica in 1944, winning only four of the 32 seats (one elected independent joined the party afterwards). It came to office in 1955, and held office until just before independence in 1962. It was defeated by its principal rival the Jamaica Labour Party. 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 third worldist foreign policy. In 1980, the Jamaica Labour Party led by Edward Seaga overwhelmingly defeated it, after several years characterized by inflation and rising unemployment.
In 1989 it was returned to office under Manley's leadership. Manley retired from politics in 1992, and was replaced as party leader by Percival Noel James Patterson. Patterson led the PNP to victory in 1993, 1997, and 2002, becoming the first political leader in Jamaican history to win three successive general elections. At the last elections, 16 october 2002, the party won 52.2 % of popular votes and 34 out of 60 seats.
The PNP remains in office today.
Leaders
- Norman Manley (1938-1969)
- Michael Manley (1969-1992)
- Percival Patterson (1992- )
External links
- Official site (http://www.pnpjamaica.com)
- Manifesto (http://www.pnpjamaica.com/manifesto.pdf)
(The manifesto is a pdf file, you need acrobat reader to view it. Get it for free here (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html))de:People’s National Party