New slate of candidates necessary: Political scientist

The Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) failure to pick up any seats in Thursday’s General Election indicates clearly its need to clean house.

“I would advise the DLP to jettison every single one of those candidates and indeed the majority of those supporting acts and the people who have supported them in terms of the administration and they should start to look for and vet 30 new candidates within the constituency branches as soon as possible,” advised Political Scientist and Pollster Peter Wickham.

Noting the party had to do some soul searching at this time, he insisted that to gain the confidence of Barbadians once more, a shake-up in the political organisation, including its policies and procedures, would be critical going forward.

“This nonsense about the Executive choosing people is a relic of an era long since passed. Try and rebuild the General Council under new leadership and ensure that in five years time, the DLP that is currently comprised has nothing to do with the DLP of the future, that they have a new party that is built on the vision of Errol Barrow and that they could face the party without any type of baggage,” he told The Barbados Advocate.

Wickham opined that if this did not occur, the party would risk once again failing to secure seats in the next election.

“If they decide to go back to the polls with the same people or the majority of these same people here they will face the same problem, because this is no garden variety defeat. This is a defeat of proportions that suggests that the people are finished with the DLP in its current composition in any shape or form. So a remake, a complete refashion, a rebranding, new leadership, and new candidates is the way I feel the DLP should go,” Wickham said.