Baptistois Liberal Party
Baptistois Liberal Party Parti libéral baptistois | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | PLB |
| Leader | Disputed Robert Ménard Léopold Poullain |
| Founded | 30 September 1990 |
| Preceded by | National Republican People's Party |
| Ideology | Centrism Economic liberalism Conservative liberalism Bacheletism (minority) |
| Political position | Centre to centre-right |
| Colors | Blue, yellow |
| Seats | 6 / 14
|
| Website | |
| www.liberal.sb | |
The Baptistois Liberal Party (Principean: Parti libéral baptistois, PLB) is a centrist political party in Saint-Baptiste. The successor of the National Republican People's Party, the PLB is one of two main parties in Saint-Baptiste, alongside the Saint-Baptiste Reform Party. At present, the party forms the government, holding a majority of eight seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The party traditionally takes a more conservative approach to policy, although it is considered the more economically liberal of the two main parties, and attempts to ascribe to a catch-all and non-ideological position.
History
The Baptistois Liberal Party was founded on 30 September 1990, reforming what remained of the National Republican People's Party after Saint-Baptiste's democratization earlier that year. The party initially lost both the 1991 presidential and parliamentary elections, seeing itself form the official opposition to the Saint-Baptiste Reform Party (PAREF), which gained both a parliamentary majority and control of the presidency. By 1994, political fortunes had turned, and the PLB received a majority government under the leadership of Cyrille Bachelet, who later won the presidency in 1996. Under both Bachelet and Edouard Montgomery, the PLB pursued a policy of economic liberalism and minor privatization, creating a boost in tourism and involving with numerous multinational hotel chains. The party won a third term in government in 2000, with an unprecedent 12-seat majority.
Heading into the 2003 parliamentary election, the government had been embroiled in a number of scandals concerning possibly illegal financial transactions between former Minister of Home Affairs Lou Delannoy and numerous hotel chains, most notably Dumont Hotels, as well as a general air that the PLB had become increasingly corrupt under its 9-year tenure. As such, the party lost power in a landslide loss in 2003, with Montgomery himself losing his seat. In opposition under former Minister of Finance and Infrastructure Emmanuel Ménard from the mid-2000s onwards, the party recouped losses to PAREF in 2006, leading to an even split of seven seats between both parties and Saint-Baptiste's first hung Chamber of Deputies. The PLB would go on to narrowly losing the snap 2007 election.
With the popularity of the PAREF government collapsing during the 2009 general strike and increasing financial crisis to the liquidation of Saint-Baptiste's largest bank, the PLB under newly-elected leader Marc-Antoine Vernier surged in opinion polls, and returned to government in 2010 under a platform espousing increased welfare spending, subsidization of the hospitality industry, and an official investigation into corruption into Baptistois government institutions. The party increased its vote share in 2013, and in 2019 became to first party to govern with four consecutive majority governments.
Leadership
| No. | Name | Tenure |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Pierre-Marie Blanchet | 30 September 1990 – 12 March 1992 |
| 2. | Cyrille Bachelet | 12 March 1992 – 2 June 1996 |
| 3. | Edouard Montgomery | 2 June 1996 – 12 September 2003 |
| 4. | Emmanuel Ménard | 12 September 2003 – 7 May 2009 |
| 5. | Marc-Antoine Vernier | 7 May 2009 – 18 July 2021 |
| 6. | Robert Ménard | 18 July 2021 – Present |
Election results
Chamber of Deputies
| Election year | Leader | # of votes |
% of vote |
# of overall seats won |
+/– | Govt? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Pierre-Marie Blanchet | 7,463 | 46.07 (#2) | 4 / 14
|
 4
|
Opposition |
| 1994 | Cyrille Bachelet | 7,337 | 51.01 (#1) | 8 / 14
|
4
|
Majority |
| 1997 | Edouard Montgomery | 6,517 | 51.54 (#1) | 8 / 14
|
|
Majority |
| 2000 | 7,282 | 52.11 (#1) | 12 / 14
|
4
|
Majority | |
| 2003 | 4,993 | 44.51 (#2) | 4 / 14
|
 8
|
Opposition | |
| 2006 | Emmanuel Ménard | 4,446 | 44.88 (#2) | 7 / 14
|
3
|
Opposition |
| 2007 | 5,005 | 43.52 (#2) | 6 / 14
|
1
|
Opposition | |
| 2010 | Marc-Antoine Vernier | 7,137 | 47.63 (#1) | 11 / 14
|
5
|
Majority |
| 2013 | 7,248 | 51.05 (#1) | 11 / 14
|
|
Majority | |
| 2016 | 5,802 | 46.66 (#1) | 10 / 14
|
1
|
Majority | |
| 2019 | 5,053 | 42.34 (#1) | 8 / 14
|
2
|
Majority |
President
| Election year | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # of votes | % of vote | # of votes | % of vote | ||
| 1991 | Édouard Bachelet | 7,700 | 47.71 (#2) | 7,317 | 43.98 (#2) |
| 1996 | Cyrille Bachelet | 6,922 | 50.63 (#1) | ||
| 2001 | Cyrille Bachelet | 7,191 | 57.81 (#1) | ||
| 2006 | Emmanuel Ménard | 4,938 | 45.53 (#1) | 5,109 | 49.58 (#2) |
| 2011 | Emmanuel Ménard | 7,802 | 52.42 (#1) | ||
| 2016 | Emmanuel Ménard | 5,983 | 44.65 (#1) | 6,901 | 51.01 (#1) |
| 2021 | Marc-Antoine Vernier | 4,367 | 27.30 (#1) | 8,092 | 47.31 (#2) |