 It also embodied the island's principles of ministerial responsibility and the rule of law.Thirty-one percent of the population participated in the 1944 elections.The JPL – helped by its promises to create jobs, its practice of dispensing public funds in pro-JLP parishes, and the PNP's relatively radical platform – won an 18 percent majority of the votes over the PNP, as well as 22 seats in the 32-member House of Representatives, with 5 going to the PNP and 5 to other short-lived parties.