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DLP must reconnect with voters

by Barbados Today
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The historic defeats for the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in the 2018 and 2022 General Elections have presented the party with an opportunity to re-engage with the public it seeks to serve. 

Calling the 30-0 losses, “traumatic” and “heart-wrenching”, the former government minister and Member of Parliament for St. James South Donville Inniss is insistent that the almost 70-year old political party remains a viable contender to once again hold office in this country.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY he stressed the party’s focus now must be on re-connecting with the society as the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) did between 2008 and 2018.

“What people are saying about the Democratic Labour Party, they were saying about the Barbados Labour Party after its defeat in 2008, when they were saying ‘oh we do not want to see them again’. What the BLP did was to continue to engage with the public. They had foot soldiers and people working on the ground and they made themselves become more relevant in the eyes of the public so that by 2017-2018, they were implanted in the minds of the people – not so much that they were a better party, but that there was the belief that ‘the Democratic Labour Party was the worst thing to happen to Barbados and therefore the Dems needed to go and the Bees take over’. It is a cycle,” he contended.

Pointing to the low turnout of voters in the last General Elections, the DLP must now go after those who did not show up in 2022 to cast their ‘x’.

“I believe in the last election, the government of the day only got about 32 per cent or so of the eligible voters in Barbados, which means that there is 68 per cent of the voting population that either voted for the Democratic Labour Party or just did not vote. You need to engage those people in a constructive way. Don’t just spend your time criticizing the BLP government.

“If you’re gonna go out there, talk about the broader issues. Are we satisfied in terms of educational reform of our base? Are we satisfied in terms of public health systems and their functioning? Are we satisfied with the economy, if you’re not, don’t just criticize the government, but offer alternatives.

“I think that the DLP, as a political organisation, is in a good position to gather competent men and women from all strata of society, engage with them fully, let them bring forward their views and then offer alternatives to the country, not to the government. If you can’t do that, then you are nothing but a nuisance and a noisemaker,” he added.

Inniss, who was a part of the line-up in the DLP’s first 30-nil defeat in 2018, insisted that the former ruling party need not be troubled as it had “a solid foundation”.

“Being defeated by 30-love in 2018 and again in 2022 cannot, and will not, erase the immense contribution that the Democratic Labour Party has made to the development of Barbados. There is no political party that has made as meaningful an impact upon its society, in the Caribbean, as far as I’m concerned, than the Democratic Labour Party has done,” he said.

Inniss returned to the island on Friday night after more than four years in the United States where he was arrested and held on money-laundering charges for which he was subsequently jailed for two years. (JB)

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