The elevation of Dr Ronnie Yearwood to the presidency of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) has seemingly drawn more young people to its bosom.
That is according to the party’s 1st vice-president Steve Blackett, who said while the DLP had seen an influx of new members in the last few months, a spike in young people joining the party occurred shortly after Dr Yearwood became its leader.
Following the party’s 30-0 drubbing in the January General Elections and the subsequent resignation of former president Verla De Peiza, the 43-year-old Dr Yearwood defeated challenger David Estwick for the vacant post during an Extraordinary Conference on May 1.
Blackett revealed that more than half of its new members had joined since then.
“We’ve had close to 300 members joining the party in the last seven to eight months. In the last three months alone we have had 195 new members joining and we are going to be actually inducting a token number of those, 20 members into the fold of the DLP on Friday evening. But we are seeing a steady increase in new members and what is refreshing is that among those new members we’re finding a large majority of young people coming to the party,” Blackett revealed during a press conference this morning to disclose details for the party’s 67th annual general conference which will be held this Friday and Saturday.
“I don’t know if there is any one particular attraction you can pinpoint, but what I can say is that they have been coming on their own volition because the party has not really launched any direct or singular programme or anything to attract members to the party.
“I believe though, because it coincided with the election of our new president, that maybe it is one of the features of the attraction to the party. But certainly, we’ve been seeing larger numbers coming on their own and also enquiring about membership to the party. The only common feature that I can see in that period would be the election of our new president.
Blackett pointed out that recent elections had shown that the new generation of politicians was younger, smarter and more educated.
“I think the time has come for the younger generation of politicians to take the lead in Caribbean politics and we’ve been seeing it especially in the last two general elections that were held in the Caribbean in Grenada and recently in St Kitts.
“Dr Ronnie Yearwood is the first millennial to actually lead a political party in Barbados, so you’re seeing a coming-of-age kind of young, bright, well-educated politicians and it is time that we paint a new picture of what the future politician in Barbados will look like…” Blackett said. (RB)
