Political scientists say new DLP president’s hardest job will be healing fractures in party

The greatest challenge on the hands of newly elected Democratic Labour Party (DLP) president, Dr Ronnie Yearwood, is unifying the deeply divided political organisation.

Political analyst Devaron Bruce believes the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus law lecturer presents the “new branding” needed to assist the party with overcoming the negative perceptions associated with the notorious ‘old guard’.

However, describing Dr Yearwood as “politically weak” and lacking “institutional depth”, veteran political scientist Dr George Belle predicted that his success will be even less than his predecessor Verla DePeiza, who presided over the party’s most recent 30-0 thrashing at the polls.

At an Extraordinary Conference on Sunday, Yearwood, the former St James South candidate, captured 273 votes to the 205 won by former government minister Dr David Estwick in the battle for the DLP presidency.

“I think the victor in Dr Yearwood is the preferred victor if we are going to be talking about rebranding, rebuilding, and really bringing a new energy to the Democratic Labour Party,” Bruce told Barbados TODAY.

“That development can only be a positive, considering the alternative from one who has been rejected on multiple occasions on the national level and now at the party level. I think Dr Yearwood has what is necessary to bring the energy and a renewed vision to the Democratic Labour Party going forward,” he added, noting that the two massive general election defeats in 2018 and 2022 were part and parcel of the legacy left by the Freundel Stuart administration, with which Dr Estwick is associated.

On the other hand, Dr Belle declared that the Dems had gained very little at last weekend’s conference as the numbers, in his opinion, point to a continuation of the party’s leadership crisis. In fact, he noted that on each of the three occasions DePeiza contested the post, she won by more convincing margins.

“I think this is the weakest demonstration of support for a leader in the DLP elections and it is compounded by the fact that Dr Yearwood comes from outside of the party, and without exposing himself to the inner culture of the party he aims for leadership, which I think is a fairly shallow political manoeuvre,” Dr Belle told Barbados TODAY.

“I do not think he has the institutional depth in terms of knowledge or memory to pull out from the Democratic Labour Party, that which is plaguing it most. Therefore, it will be difficult to identify genuine problems within the party that would help it to drag itself out of the present political hole that it finds itself in.

“I, therefore, cannot see how he is going to perform that well as a leader who is being chosen to rebuild the party. I think it is a further demonstration of the weakness of the Democratic Labour Party at this moment,” added the former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Cave Hill Campus.

In 2018, mere months after the DLP’s first 30-nil election defeat, DePeiza was appointed president unopposed. In 2019, former general secretary George Pilgrim attempted to unseat her, but gained a meagre 197 votes to her 349. In August last year, DePeiza defeated the Reverend Guy Hewitt by more than 200 votes in a fierce race to the presidency that often spilled into the public domain.

According to Dr Belle, Dr Yearwood will be forced to lead a party with at least three factions that include supporters of Dr Estwick and the old guard, supporters of DePeiza, and the new president’s own fledgling faction.

“His greatest challenge is to get support from the factions that do not support him. I think they would tend to ignore him and, therefore, he cannot get the full energy of the party in relation to reform and rebuilding,” the political scientist underscored.

Bruce said the low voter turnout was not surprising, with the vote coming less than six months after a general election when political organisations tend to have less energy.

“I think the most pressing need of the party at this time would be to bring together a level of support. Internally, he has to deal with the divisions and some of the weaknesses of the organisation. So, there must be a real relook to see what the organisation internally needs before it can look at what the nation needs. So, it is really about bringing people together under his banner,” said Bruce.

“I think Ronnie really needs to lay out what his vision for the party is and to also bring others onboard for their vision for what the party ought to be as well and really determine and bring together those individuals… to create a single vision out of multiple perspectives,” he added. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb