Barbados - Politics
Barbadians head to the polls just weeks after removing Queen Elizabeth as head of state. Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced the early election in a bid to unite the nation “around a common cause” and “behind a single government” after the island nation formally transformed into a republic. Mottley, the country’s first female prime minister and leader of the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP), was elected in May 2018 and had until 2023 to go to the polls. The Barbados Labour Party won all 30 seats of the lower house of the Barbadian parliament in the 2018 election and currently retained 29 of those seats.
However, speaking in an address to the nation on 27 December 2021, Mottley said she was seeking to put an end to what she called “silly season,” after getting blasted by critics over her response to the Covid pandemic.
Commenting on her government’s performance, Mottley claimed her administration oversaw economic and financial successes that helped the country recover from the critical blow to tourism caused by the Covid pandemic. The decision will see voters head to the ballot box only weeks after Barbados, which had been a British colony for more than 300 years, removed Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and completed its transition into a republic.
Dame Sandra Mason, the former governor-general, was sworn in as the country’s president in November 2021, having previously secured the support of a joint session of the House of Assembly and Senate. Barbados followed Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominica in becoming a republic, reducing the number of former British colonies that still call the Queen their head of state. November’s formal ceremony marked the end of a decades-long process for Barbados, which began in 1998 when a constitutional commission recommended the nation become a republic. While the governments that followed failed to make progress, Mottley’s administration began the formal steps to move past its colonial legacy in 2020.
United Progressive Party (UPP) in its 2018 Manifesto called for a change to our election laws to remove this "unnecessary phenomenon" called snap elections. The UPP said "'The UPP in its 2018 Manifesto called for a change to our election laws to remove this unnecessary phenomenon called snap elections. This method of determining when the electorate goes to the polls gives the incumbent an unfair advantage over others contesting elections, and except for titillating those interested in political shenanigans has no place in a modern democracy.
"'Just like many other Barbadians, the United Progressive Party (UPP) is a bit surprised that the leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has called general elections in 2021 when they are not due until 2023. This possibility of calling elections at the whims of a leader is no longer relevant to a mature democracy, one that has just donned the mantel of Republic and has removed the Queen of England as Head of State.
"From what we have been able to gather the reason for calling this election at this time is the notion that Barbadians have become difficult to govern. This is rather surprising since the BLP has more than a two-thirds majority in the lower house and is operating through Directives issued by the Cabinet, by-passing any involvement of other Members of Parliament and the Electorate.
"In fact, questions have been raised about whether or not this extended state of emergency is warranted. What to an undiscerning ear may seem to be rumblings of discontent are really the noises which a functioning democracy is meant to make, whether it is government workers questioning their conditions of work or individuals questioning the type of medication prescribed by the public health care providers."
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