National Labour Front

For the Chilean party, see National Labour Front (Chile).

The National Labour Front (NLF) was a political party in Guyana.

History

The NLF was established by Lionel Luckhoo in 1956 after a split in the United Democratic Party.[1][2][3] Luckhoo was persuaded to establish the party by wealthy anti-communist Indo-Guyanese, and it ran on an anti-independence platform, opposing the People's Progressive Party.[3]

In the 1957 general elections it was the only party to nominate a candidate in all 14 Legislative Council seats,[4] and had a large campaign budget.[3] The party received 12% of the vote, winning only a single seat in the North Western District constituency, taken by Stephen Campbell,[4] who became the first Amerindian member of the Guyanese parliament.[5]

The party did not run in the 1961 elections, but returned to contest the 1964 elections. However, it received only 177 votes and failed to win a seat.[6] The party did not contest any further elections.[7]

References

1. Colin A. Palmer (2010) Cheddi Jagan and the Politics of Power: British Guiana's Struggle for Independence, Univ of North Carolina Press, p205
2. The all-party conferences Guyana.org
3. Odeen Ishmael (2002) Cheddi Jagan - Glimpses of an Internationalist
4. 1957 Elections Archived 2015-06-22 at the Wayback Machine GECOM
5. Stephen Campbell MP Guyanese Achievers
6. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, pp366-368 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
7. Nohlen, p365