The Progressive Labour Party (PLP) is one of the two political parties in Bermuda. At the 18 July 2017 general election, the party won 24 of the 36 seats in the Bermudian House of Assembly to become the governing party. The party was founded in 1963, the first political party in Bermuda, and the oldest still active. It formed government from 1998 to 2012, and again since 2017. Formation The Progressive Labour Party was founded in 1963 by Wilfred Mose Allen, Hugh Ryo Richardson, Albert Peter Smith, Edward DeJean, Walter N.H. Robinson, Austin Wilson and Dilton C. Cann. These seven had earlier met in Richardson's garage, before holding the first formal meeting of the PLP on 10 February 1963 in Robinson's office in Hamilton. The party contested the 1963 election just three months after its formation. Appealing to working-class voters, the first election platform called for equitable taxation, an end to racial discrimination, economic parity and welfare programs, as well as housing, educational and electoral reform. The party contested nine of the 36 House of Assembly seats. The PLP's six successful members of parliament were Arnold A. Francis (Party Leader), Walter N. H. Robinson (Deputy Leader), Lois Browne-Evans (Bermuda's first black elected woman Member of Parliament), Russell Dismont, Cecil Clarke and Dorothy Thompson. Bermuda received its first constitution in 1968, and an election was called on 22 May 1968. In the election, the party was soundly defeated winning only 10 of 40 seats by the conservative United Bermuda Party which was founded in 1964. During the election, the party's leader, Walter Robinson, was defeated in his constituency and Lois Browne-Evans became party leader, the first female opposition leader in the British Commonwealth. In subsequent elections, the PLP slowly increased its seat numbers. At the 1972 general election, the PLP increased its share of the popular vote from 33% to 38%. The party again contested every constituency. With the successful re-election of Walter Robinson, Lois Browne-Evans yielded the leadership of the party back to him. The party retained ten seats in the House. In April 1976, Robinson retired from active politics, later becoming a Puisne Judge, and Browne-Evans became the Party Leader for the second time as well as the Opposition Leader. In the 1980 general election, the party ran 40 candidates and won 18 seats and 46% of the votes, just three short of the number needed to form government.