Bolstered by an influx of new members and new blood among candidates, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is telling the party faithful to prepare for an early return to the polls – at least within the next four years.
While addressing a meeting of the DLP’s three St. Philip constituency branches over the weekend, General Secretary Guyson Mayers suggested that the economic medicine being administered by the Government “is so bitter that people will turn away from them in droves very shortly”.
Under those circumstances, the DLP number two said, it would be prudent for Prime Minister Mottley to catch the party “napping, and call an election before she thinks we are ready. I am looking for three-and-a half to four years before the next General Election, so we must prepare for that”.
He also hinted that possible vacant seats in St Philip were additional signs that the party should prepare for elections before they are constitutionally due in 2023.
“People are forecasting that the Barbados Labour Party will be in power for a long time, and they say that we should prepare to get ourselves in shape for the next five years,” said Mayers.
“We do not have five years put down; we have a Member of Parliament who is very ill, and no one knows if or when there will be a by-election in that constituency, and we hear there are rumblings in the party with one of your (St. Philip) candidates whose head is on the cutting board, so we have to be in a state of readiness in case things fall apart, as they sometimes do,” he added. He did not elaborate.
Mayers added that since the May 24 polls, over 130 people have joined the DLP, with some expressing an interest in becoming candidates for the 30 constituencies up for grabs.
“We must bear in mind that if the BLP can win St John, we have to fight for every seat in Barbados,” the DLP general secretary told members.
Mayers said the Dems’ strategy as it sought to recover from the country’s worst-ever electoral defeat was to rebuild the 63-year-old party “from the grassroots up.
“The base of the party has not been shaken although some of the limbs of the tree have been cut off. The roots are still intact, as they are grounded in the constituency branches; you are the ones who will make or break the DLP.
“Parties of this vintage go through ups and downs; we are down now, but our ups will come again.”
Guyston Mayers: “I am looking for three-and-a half to four years before the next General Election….”
Can’t believe an annihilated political party would be thirsting for another trashing so soon. Truly power hungry!
Whenever you decide on an election date, add 90 days.
@Carl Harper: You are just a voter, and you surely don’t understand the workings of politics or parties.
Parties are fragile citizens of the whole political process, they can be fractured from within as we have seen with the Sandiford administration in the past. This B L P cabinet is challenging to manage, and the country’s economy even more challenging.
Unless the Prime Minister can hold her cabinet together this term in office will be cut as short as a doberman’s tail. Mayers is totally correct in his assessment whether you B L P supporters wish to agree or not.
The DEMs will be back stronger and more relevant than ever, and with solid candidates. Stay tuned. I think it is a shame that Carol Roberts has not been appointed CEO at the NCF, she is sooooo good.How could she be overlooked????
Mr. Mayers, while it is good to see that the DEMS are rebuilding, we trust that you will select CREDIBLE candidates and not everyone that presents him/herself. The party needs candidates who are willing to sacrifice their personal well-being for the good of the country – persons who will leave their footprints on the sands of time as the late Hon. Errol Walton Barrow did.
The “tuffess” job MIA got is “Keeping her Ministers in Line/Together”.
In which country you talking bout
Wunna think that bajans blind and deaf the arrogance and the callousness of the Dlp is renound all over the world
What are these rumblings Mr mayers speaking of I wan know
@GREEGIANT: I don’t believe that CARL “NOT IN BARBADOS” HARPER is “just a voter”, he(she) is bigup in the BLP party.
Mr Mayers living in la la la land.i don’t know about the rest of Barbados but we can’t afford no clowns to run Barbados again.Mr Mayers feels this is the PTA.I said it again the DLP is a special breed of special.Them turn the country upside down and now talking crap about winning back a government.What government when where how.Never.Keep dreaming you soon wake up.
Give poor Carl and Wendel a break, they only speaking from what is in their brains and not anyone else’s. As I said, every one is entitled to their own opinion.
This GUYSON MAYERS character is telling HIMSELF and mind you ..HE HAS ALREADY CONVINCED HIMSELF that ELECTIONS are going to be called in 3 to 4 years and that the MASSES would have FORGOTTEN what that DLP clASS of 2008-2018 did to the Country and RE-ELECT that CROOKED DEMOCRATIC LABOR PARTY…how NAIVE can someone get.
How can someone even harbor thoughts that with a GENERAL SECRETARY such as him,a TWO TIME LOSER such as Verla and a 4 time LOSER such as Irene at the top that the DEMOCRATIC LABOR PARTY would ever rise again is beyond comprehension
Have Bajans forgotten the 24-3 washing sometime ago? The party is in power today.
To reply to the mouthings of this or the other clown Verla would be to make them and the DLP feel relevant. By the time the charges are brought against the former Ministers DEM will shut up with shame. This boys Mayers in even look de part.
I wonder: How come these people who HATE the DLP as much as these rabid BLP nutjobs do, always have the MOST COMMENTS on DLP articles?
Why are you all here?
What do you care what happens in the DLP that you are so quick to remind everyone is the worst party Barbados ever had?
What are you trying to prove beyond the fact that your unbridled hatred for the party goes unabated?
The name DLP should be banned for 15 years and any person that was associated with it should not be able to take part in any other party for 10 years. Who in a sound mind would support those 2 losers and Guyson Meyers as leaders. The DLP was a proud party until Stuart and his team brought it to shame. The DLP has become a Pariah so I would like to see who these 130 new members are.