The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) will find it tough to present itself as a viable alternative to the ruling Barbados Labour Party in upcoming elections, says political scientist Devaron Bruce.
Reflecting on the turmoil which unfolded during last weekend’s 69th Annual Conference at the party’s headquarters in George Street, Belleville, St Michael, where police had to be called in, he said the DLP will face “serious difficulties” not only in the election constitutionally due in 2027, but “the ones following that”.
“The party is clearly splintered at this point and it is splintered in the context of a party that’s already weakened, and that is already behind its opponent, that being the Barbados Labour Party,” Bruce told the DAILY NATION.
“How then do we expect the DLP to do well electorally if it is unable to even get its own persons to support it? I am quite curious as to where, or who I should say, the Ralph Thorne faction is listening to, because . . . the public seems quite disillusioned with the DLP, I would say further disillusioned with the DLP. So I think the conference just sort of defines what we already know, the divisions within the party, and it also highlights that the DLP, quite frankly, will have considerable difficulties winning the next few elections.”
Opposition Leader Thorne, who is also political leader of the DLP, announced a shadow cabinet comprising himself and 15 others, but one casualty of the changes was attorney Tricia Watson who will be replaced in the Senate.
Bruce said it was “a loss” for the DLP and as for the names announced, he noted that some had been rejected by the public “in a very direct, deliberate, and decisive way”.
“I believe that if Ralph Thorne and his aspect of the DLP were serious about the party moving forward, and were serious about the party putting up a challenge during the next election, these were not the decisions that they would come to. The party needs to understand succession and that one of its fundamental weaknesses has always been succession since the death of [former Prime Minister] Errol Barrow.”
He said infighting occurred during Barrow’s time but escalated since then.
“So until the party understands the importance of younger blood, the importance of younger input, the importance of putting new persons to the forefront, and regaining the confidence of the public, again, electorally, I don’t think it’s going to do very well.”
Comparing the leadership of expelled former party president Dr Ronnie Yearwood and Thorne, Bruce said while the former had not united the party, the latter had certainly divided it. He found Thorne’s leadership was wanting.
“I don’t think any right-thinking Barbadian will look at the last six months and say that as political leader Ralph Thorne has presented to the public a DLP that is worthy of winning a government. So that in itself is a failure, because that is fundamentally the role of a political leader.”
Meanwhile, political scientist and lecturer at the University of the West Indies Dr Kristina Hinds said one positive was the naming of a shadow cabinet which she saw as a move to put a structure in place.
“While we see that, and while that is something that could be viewed as beneficial, on the other hand what we saw in the DLP this weekend shows that there is a lot of chaos in that political party. And putting in place a shadow cabinet does not resolve that,” Hinds said.
“One of the quite worrying signs to me was the way in which some of the rank and file members seem to have been alienated from the party conference on the Sunday. I don’t know that that is something that’s favourable. Actually, it is not favourable because you need the members to keep the party going, to assist with canvassing, getting even more members to join the political party.”
In her opinion, what the public saw would not attract people to join the party.
Another observation was that neither faction appeared to want to back down. Hinds said there was plenty of blame to go around, both in the Blackett/Yearwood camp and the Thorne faction.
“I’m trying not to say unfortunate again, but it really is bothersome to me that these people could not have found a way to work through the issues in the political party in order to carry it forward. And what they instead chose was a very confrontational kind of stance,” she said.
“No one is willing to back down and also no one is willing to compromise. And we even heard from Mr Thorne, him saying that there’s ‘no compromise’. And that is one way to address problems. I don’t know that it’s the best way to address problems.”
Hinds said there was work going on in the DLP with some members attempting to talk about issues like the high cost of living, high fuel prices and the high cost of back-to-school items, but the power struggle was detracting from this.
“If the Prime Minister allows us to go to 2027, I think two years is enough time for them to begin to rebuild, but it’s some serious work that they need to do to present a unified front, to present policy alternatives and to correct all that we’ve seen over the last six months.”
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