Gombey Liberation Party
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The Gombey Liberation Party (GLP) is a grassroots political party in Bermuda. Founded on the 3rd of July, 2003, shortly before that year's General Election, the GLP has yet to attain a seat in Bermuda Parliament.
24 year old artist and musician Gavin Sundjata Smith created the GLP with the assistance of his brother Corin, a member of the United Bermuda Party and former member of the Progressive Labour Party, and used the name of a type of local dancer, the Gombey, to attract interest in the party.
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[edit] Platform
Under the slogan, "The Power of One", the GLP's political platform revolves around removing the remnants of colonialism from Bermuda. Calling upon members of the "Gombey community" — defined as Bermudians of any race, ethnicity, creed or gender who oppose colonialism and accept self-determination — to rally against remaining British influence.
Claiming that there is a conservative "neo-colonial" movement that is attempting to restore colonial privilege, the GLP has targeted the Governor of Bermuda, whom they believe is consolidating his power over the Police, the Bermuda Regiment and the legal and banking systems.
To counter colonialism, the GLP intends to use "therapeutic" instead of "adversarial" measures to attain its goals, including civic engagement and a balance between "grassroots values" and "establishment priorities".
Grassroots Values
- Faith
- Family
- Fulfilment
- Fairness
- Freedom
- Fun
- Flexibility
- Unity
Establishment Priorities
- Ideology
- Bureaucracy
- Necessity
- Force
- Control
- Protocol
- Efficiency
- Order
The GLP also intends to rejuvenate local culture. Targeting the constituency of St. George's in particular, the party desires to create cultural centres at the sites of the Somer's Pride of India Lodge and the derelict Club Med hotel.
The platform was intended to appeal to the youth, party founder Smith's peers.
[edit] Public Response
Though many individuals found Smith and the GLP an entertaining concept, few took him seriously. Of those that did was a section who responded with great hostility, including threats to Smith's family. The origin of this hostility is attributed by some to the use of the phrase "Gombey" and the fact that the GLP was running against then-Premier Jennifer Smith[1].
[edit] 2003 Election
During the 2003 General Election, founder Gavin Smith was the party's only candidate and ran for the St. George's North constituency, against the PLP's then-Premier Jennifer Smith and the UBP's Kenneth Bascome. He received 16 votes or about 0.02% of the ballots cast, compared to J. Smith's 423 and Bascome's 415.
G. Smith's final count was the lowest of the Election, followed by 41 votes for the National Liberal Party's lone candidate Graeme Outerbridge, and 51 votes for the lone independent candidate Stuart Hayward, both of whom were more publicly known than Smith.
The GLP received the fewest votes of any political group in the Election, including the lone independent candidate Stuart J. Hayward and the sole candidate for the National Liberal Party, Graeme Outerbridge. In fact, these three, and one each from the two main parties, were the only candidates to receive fewer than a hundred votes, emphasising the difficulty for third-party candidates in Bermuda's Westminster-style parliament. The GLP's poor results can also be attributed to the party's creation mere weeks before the election.
