United Progressive Party (Barbados)


The United Progressive Party is a political party in Barbados. The party was announced in February, 2017 to coincide with the May 2018 general election cycle. The lead Chairperson is the Attorney-at-Law and former Senator and Minister with the Barbados Labour Party, Ms. Lynette Eastmond.
The United Progressive Party was formed in 2017 and Lynette Eastmond was chosen to lead the new party after much media speculation concerning the political ambitions of Eastmond herself. Early in the party's history another former BLP member who turned independent parliamentary member Dr. Maria Agard crossed the floor to join the UPP. until Agard, subsequently dropped out of the party just prior to the election deciding to no longer contest the current election.
In November, 2017 the party announced a manifesto outlining its party agenda for Barbados. This was announced under the banner of "The New Economy Manifesto" and the "Orange Economy" in line with the party's chosen colour of orange.
After discussions with another new Barbados party called the Citizens Action Partnership, led by Wendell Callender both parties agreed to merge the CAP into the UPP in December 2017.

Party officers

During the August Congress of the UPP the following were elected as officers for the UPP:
For the Barbados House of Assembly's 2018 general election, the UPP won 1.3 per cent of the vote losing the one seat of Christ Church West, held by new UPP's member, Dr. Agard back to the Barbados Labour Party. The BLP had a historic landslide election securing 74.58 per cent of the 150,141 total votes. and winning all 30 of the seats in the House of Assembly. The party has announced it would be contesting in future Barbados elections.
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2018 candidates

The UPP had 23 candidates out of 30 in the 2018 general election. These were:
The UPP uses several forms of Internet mediums to reach out to new and existing supporters. This includes: Google+, Facebook, and Twitter feeds.