According to preliminary results, Prime Minister Mia Mottley and her Barbados Labor Party (BLP) have won another convincing landslide victory at the polls, taking all 30 seats in parliament for a second consecutive time in Barbados Election.
Fresh from her leadership of moving Barbados into the republican system of government in December, the 56-year-old got a resounding vote of confidence from Barbadians. The snap election was announced on December 27th, almost 18 months before it was constitutionally due, and was a surprise to the nation and Mottley’s political opponents.
In her victory speech, the first woman prime minister of the Eastern Caribbean Island expressed her gratitude to the nation for the opportunity to start 2022 on a “fresh guard.” “I thank you, you, the people of Barbados, for accepting us at our word that if we do not fix our problems starting from tomorrow, we will not be able to guarantee safety to our people in the next 10 to 15 years,” she said.
Responding to critics who felt the election was not warranted, the prime minister said: “We could have stayed on for another 18 months and drawn salaries and done just enough to keep us going, but we understood that it would not be enough to keep this country safe but to build the platform for prosperity.”
The island’s main opposition, the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), conceded defeat through its leader Verla De Peiza, who also extended congratulations to the Prime Minister and the BLP.
In expressing her disappointment with the results, De Peiza said, “It was a reckless time to call an election,” which, according to her, depressed the voter turnout. Two hundred sixty-six thousand three hundred thirty persons were eligible to vote, and political commentators estimated that under 50 percent cast their ballots.
Mottley, who had already signaled that this would be her last general election, told supporters that she would be announcing her new Cabinet on Monday. Later today, she, along with Dale Marshall, will meet with President Dame Sandra Mason to be sworn into office.
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