General elections in Barbados to be held prior due date on January 19

Bridgetown: Barbadians will elect their new government on January 19, 2022, as Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley announced yesterday night. The general elections were to take place in 2023, while the parties would be able to file nominations on January 3. 

While addressing the nation and making the announcement, the leader of the Barbados Labour Party – BLP, PM Mottley, cited her worry over the divisiveness of the island as the reason behind snap elections, noting, “We should not go into 2022 as a divided nation”. 

PM Mottley met with the first-ever President of Republic Barbados, Dame Sandra Mason, earlier Monday evening, advising her to dissolve the current parliament immediately. 

“I further advised Her Excellency that she, not on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, but in her own right as President of the Republic of Barbados, issue writs for the holding of the new elections in Barbados,” the prime minister asserted. 

The prime minister firmly believes that even though in tough times of the COVID-19 outbreak, safe and fair general elections would take place. 

Highlighting her concern over Barbados becoming a dividend country, she stated, “Were it not for the emergence of the silly season, individuals in Barbados, in my view, would therefore be calling a spade a spade. They would be saying what is right and what is wrong. They would be supporting policies & programmes designed to protect and safeguard this country, its inhabitants and those who do us the honour of visiting as vacationers or on business. That is why I am concerned that we should not enter 2022 as a divided nation”. 

To plan the structure of the voting procedure, PM Mottley will hold meetings with the Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the COVID Cabinet Sub-Committee. 

Following the statement, PM Mottley urged the island nation’s citizens to stand together against this fight with the COVID-19 outbreak, asking them to strictly abide by the health protocols and guidelines established by the government. 

She concluded by noting that, “Let me say, whoever emerges as that leader, I will support; let us unite to fight the threats to our safety, our development and our prosperity“. 

In the previous general elections of 2018, BLP registered a historic win by beating the Democratic Labour Party – 30-0.