By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. Jan. 20, 2021: The incumbent Barbados Labour Party, (BLP), led by Mia Mottley, has completed a clean sweep of Wednesday’s general elections, bagging all 30 parliamentary seats. This means the country will now not have any opposition in parliament.
Barbados news reports indicate Mottley’s completed the landslide victory over the Democratic Labour Party, (DLP), in the snap elections called 18 months before the constitutionally due date.
It was the BLP’s first electoral win since Mottley led Barbados to a parliamentary Republic in November 2021.
Addressing supporters at party headquarters in the wee hours of this morning, Mottley thanked the people of Barbados for “accepting us at our word.”
“I said in 2018, ‘to whom much is given, much is expected.’ I repeat that to you the people of this country tonight,” Mottley added. “I promise you we will be the opposition to ourselves. … Tonight the people of Barbados have spoken.”
She said her party is “conscious as a political institution that there is still much to be done and that there is a road still to be travelled” and that “…as Barbadians, the country will continue to be “friends of all and satellites of none.”
“Inspite of all the side talk, I am so proud of this team … who displayed the discipline and the finest example of Barbadian behavior and who stayed focus on what matters to you,” Mottley, who said that she believes in two-term leadership and that this may be her last term in elective politics added.
But she warned that if the government does not start fixing the problems of the country from tomorrow, they will not be able to guarantee the safety of its people in the next 10-15 years.
Now the ninth prime minister to lead the Gem of the Caribbean, Mottley, who has achieved international fame for her fight for climate change, has further stamped her name in the annals of the country’s history.
Approximately 266, 330 people, just over 92 per cent of the Barbadian population were registered to vote in the poll.
A last-ditch attempt to have the elections cancelled Tuesday failed in court after a judge threw out an opposition party’s case that pointed to the fact that over 5, 600 voters in isolation due to COVID-19 are unable to cast their ballots in the snap poll.
But Justice Cicely Chase dismissed the challenge, declaring the High Court had no jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter, thus paving the way for the general election to proceed
Overall, there were 108 candidates in the race, which included nine independents.
