While the General Council of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) was locked behind closed doors in a meeting last night, two leading Barbadian political scientists said the resignation of former Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne as president represents a critical turning point for the struggling opposition party.
Dr George Belle and Devaron Bruce both said the development was not entirely unexpected following the party’s third consecutive 30-0 defeat in the recent General Election.
Bruce noted that Thorne’s departure follows a pattern established by previous DLP leaders who stepped aside after electoral losses.
“It would seem as though Ralph Thorne has followed in the tradition of the DLP leaders who have lost at elections and have resigned,” Bruce said, pointing to the resignations of former leaders after the 2018 and 2022 general elections.
He argued that the move could create an opportunity for renewal within the party, particularly given Thorne’s electoral performance.
“Ralph Thorne is statistically either the second or third worst performing political leader in the history of elections, depending on how you look at it,” Bruce said, adding that the combination of electoral losses and Thorne’s age would have made it difficult for him to lead the party into another election.
Bruce suggested that the DLP may now turn its attention to younger figures within the organisation as it attempts to rebuild.
He identified Senator Ryan Walters as a potential leadership contender, noting that Walters has been active in the party since the 2018 election and has contested two general elections.
“He has now run in two elections and has come the closest in winning a seat for the first time for the Democratic Labour Party since 2013,” Bruce said.
Bruce also mentioned attorney Corey Greenidge as another emerging figure within the party, though he suggested Walters might currently be the more likely leadership option.
However, he cautioned that rebuilding the DLP would require more than simply selecting a new leader.
“I really think the DLP ought to consider a core group of leaders, not just a single individual, because it’s quite frankly a heavy lift,” Bruce said.
For his part, Belle said Thorne’s political fate was largely sealed once he failed to secure a parliamentary seat in the last election.
After crossing the floor
Belle explained that Thorne’s original role within the party was tied closely to providing a parliamentary presence after crossing the floor from the Barbados Labour Party. “I carried the view that Thorne was reached out to by certain stalwarts in the Democratic Labour Party who felt that he would provide a parliamentary bridgehead for the party,” Belle said. However, that strategy depended on Thorne winning a seat in the House of Assembly, something Belle said did not materialise. “Once you fail to win that seat, he no longer has a parliamentary presence,” Belle explained. “If he has no parliamentary presence anymore, his purpose . . . is no longer being served.” Belle added that efforts to secure a Senate position for Thorne also failed, leaving him without a role in Parliament.
“The last flicker of hope that he had and the party maybe had for him was to get him into the Senate and that manoeuvre failed,” he said.
According to Belle, those circumstances made Thorne’s resignation almost inevitable.
“I would expect on that basis that his political future would cease as a leader of the Democratic Labour Party and therefore, the only logical thing he could do would be to resign,” he said.
Looking ahead, Belle said the party must now focus on rebuilding its organisational base and restoring unity among its factions.
“I think any political organisation has to have a leader and there’s always a coalition behind that leader,” he said, noting that successful leaders must be able to hold together different groups within the party.
He added that the DLP now has time to undertake the “non-spectacular work” of rebuilding its branches and strengthening its organisational structure before the next general election.
“They have to do the quick sustained work of rebuilding the party branches and building the party up from the bottom,” Belle said.
“But there’s a whole lot of work that party needs because it has been devastated,” he stressed. (CLM)
