News Americas, BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Fri. Feb. 22, 2013: Barbados’ ruling, Democratic Labor Party, have been returned to office by a slim majority, following voting in the Caribbean island of some 247,211 eligible voters Thursday.
The DLP, led by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, won 16 of the 30 seats in the elections. The remaining 13 went to the main opposition Barbados Labour,(BLP), which had been touted to win the election by pollsters. The DLP won 72,003 of the popular votes and the BLP took 65,845.
PM Stuart, in thanking supporters for the narrow victory, said “we are not here tonight celebrating the victory because of any sponsorship or support from the …fortune tellers of Barbados, the dividers or even the obeah men of Barbados.
“We celebrating tonight because of the confidence which ordinary men and women….who have not arrogated to themselves the right to what the future holds,” he told supporters, adding “we are celebrating because this organization during the last five years touched actual lives by its policies and programs, not to any sample, but to the population itself.”
The BLP’s Owen Arthur, conceded defeat, noting: “The people have spoken …we accept the will of the people.”
There were reports of vote buying across the island and police arrested one person following an incident in a polling booth where the individual reportedly took a cell phone picture of the ballot after it was marked with an x for one of the candidates contesting the 2013 general election.
