Barbados will head to the polls on 19 January 2021, nearly two years before elections are constitutionally due in 2023.
In a surprise announcement two days after Christmas, Prime Minister Mia Mottley informed Barbadians that they would be called upon to elect a new government in a snap election.
During what many expected to be an address related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and fiscal plans for 2022, Mottley revealed that newly sworn in President, Dame Sandra Mason was advised to dissolve parliament with immediate effect. Mason was also asked to issue writs for the staging of general elections, with nomination day being on 3 January 2022.
In the national address, Mottley praised the economic performance of the country under her leadership since the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) took office in May 2018 in an historic 30 seats to zero victory over the incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP).
President of the the main opposition DLP, Verla De Pieza has labelled to move to call an early election as selfish. De Pieza argued that the Mottley-led administration has unequivocally demonstrated its disregard for the interest of the people of Barbados by calling elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic and threats of newly discovered Omicron variant. She said that Prime Minister Mottley had yielded to feelings of panic and pleaded with the people of Barbados to vote for a change of administration on election day.
However, Prime Minister Mottley refuted claims the move was a power grab. “Were I motivated solely by the need to survive, we could bask, my friends, in the glory of a 29 to one parliament [majority] and ride COVID out for the next 18 months,” said Mottley as she defended her decision to call the election.
She said that the nation appears to be more divided since the onset of the pandemic, arguing that much of the increased criticism of her administration was motivated by politics. “I need for us to unite around a common cause, unite behind a single government, unite behind a single leader,” she said, as she bids for another five-year term in office.
The Prime Minister stated that a meeting will be held with the Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the COVID-19 Cabinet Sub-Committee to put structures in place for a safe voting process given the ongoing pandemic.
Having only confirmed a fraction of candidates for the 30 available constituencies before the election announcement amid reported internal leadership scuffles, several political analysts have argued that the DLP is ill-prepared for the snap election, giving Mottley’s BLP a clear advantage to retain power.
Following the announcement of election, former BLP MP, Joseph Atherley who won his seat in 2018, but crossed the floor to become the Opposition Leader announced the formation of a coalition to contest the election. Atherley announced a strategic partnership with the Lynette Eastmond-led United Progressive Party (UPP) to form the Alliance Party for Progress (APP). Mr Atherley assumed the role as leader while Eastmond is serving as the Deputy Leader.
The Nation Newspaper reported that the APP will field a total of 26 candidates for the general election. Atherley noted that there is no need to contest all 30 constituencies as it would be a waste of limited resources to compete against an incumbent like Prime Minister Mottley or in other constituencies with a history of robust BLP supporters.
Grenville Phillips, leader of Solutions Barbados, another minority opposition party indicated that he would also form a coalition with three other undisclosed parties to contest the election with a full slate of candidates. He noted that that every constituency must have a chance as this is ‘Barbados’ most important election’.
Meanwhile, Head of the country’s COVID-19 Monitoring Unit, Ronald Chapman announced that despite the constitutional right of Barbadians to vote in the upcoming general election, persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 are asked to remain at home or confined to their isolation facilities to avoid the spread of the virus.
He contended that infected persons in government facilities are deemed to be hospital patients and that no provision has ever been put in place for hospital patients to vote and no exceptions would be made in the upcoming election. He added that voters who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms on election day would be subject to expedited access protocols to reduce possible infection.
This is a lead article from Caribbean Insight, our sister publication from The Caribbean Council.