The politics of Barbados function within a framework of a parliamentary republic with strong democratic traditions; constitutional safeguards for nationals of Barbados include: freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association.
The People's National Party (PNP) is a social-democratic political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by Norman Washington Manley who served as party president until his death in 1969. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in the House of Representatives, as 96 of the 227 local government divisions. The party is democratic socialist by constitution.
Owen Seymour Arthur was a Barbadian politician who served as the fifth prime minister of Barbados from 6 September 1994 to 15 January 2008. He is the longest-serving Barbadian prime minister to date. He also served as Leader of the Opposition from 1 August 1993 to 6 September 1994 and from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013.
The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), colloquially known as the "Bees", is a social democratic political party in Barbados established in 1938. It has been in power in 1954–1961, 1976–1986, 1994–2008, and 2018–present. Its leaders have included Grantley Adams and Owen Arthur.
The Democratic Labour Party (DLP), colloquially known as the "Dems", is a political party in Barbados, established in 1955. It was the ruling party from 15 January 2008 to 24 May 2018 but faced an electoral wipeout in the 2018 general election which left it with no MPs.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC), also known as the National Democratic Congress of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, is a social democratic and centre-left political party in Grenada. It is the governing party in Grenada, having won a majority in the 2022 general elections. The party is led by current prime minister Dickon Mitchell as of October 2021.
The National Democratic Party was a centrist political party in Barbados which had been founded in 1989 by four defecting Democratic Labour Party ministers of parliament, led by the former finance minister Richard Haynes. The party first contested national elections in 1991, when it won 6.8% of the vote, but failed to win a seat. In the 1994 elections it increased its share of the vote to 12.8% and won a single seat. However, the party did not contest any further elections.
The House of Assembly of Barbados is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Barbados. It has 30 Members of Parliament (MPs), who are directly elected in single member constituencies using the simple-majority system for a term of five years. The House of Assembly sits roughly 40–45 days a year and is presided over by a Speaker.
General elections were held in Barbados on 22 January 1991 to elect all 28 members (MPs) of the House of Assembly of Barbados. The result was a victory for the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP), which won 18 of the 28 seats. The opposition Barbados Labour Party led by Henry Forde won ten seats, an increase of seven compared to the 1986 elections. Voter turnout was 63.7%. DLP leader Lloyd Erskine Sandiford remained Prime Minister.
General elections were held in Barbados on 28 May 1986. The result was a landslide victory for the Democratic Labour Party, which won 24 of the 27 seats. Among the Barbados Labour Party MPs who lost their seats was incumbent Prime Minister Harold Bernard St. John. The Workers Party of Barbados contested the elections for the first and only time, the only occasion on which a communist party contested an election in Barbados. Voter turnout was 77%.
General elections were held in Barbados on 2 September 1976. The result was a victory for the Barbados Labour Party, which won 17 of the 24 seats, defeating the ruling Democratic Labour Party and returning to power for the first time since 1961. This was the first and only election contested by the newly formed People's Political Alliance, whose eight candidates won only 572 votes. Voter turnout was 74.1%.
General elections were held in Barbados on 9 September 1971. Amendments to the electoral system saw the two-member constituencies previously used replaced by single-member first-past-the-post constituencies. This was also the first election in modern Barbadian history to be contested by only two political parties, not including two independent candidates.
General elections were held in Barbados on 3 November 1966. This election was the last contested using two-member constituencies, in which each voter had two votes. The result was a victory for the Democratic Labour Party, which won 14 of the 24 seats. This was the last election contested by the Barbados National Party. Once a powerful force in Barbados politics, the party stood only four candidates and was reduced to two seats; the BNP formally disbanded in 1970. Voter turnout was 79.7%.
David John Howard Thompson was the sixth prime minister of Barbados from 15 January 2008 until his death from pancreatic cancer on 23 October 2010.
Mia Amor Mottley, is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as the eighth prime minister of Barbados since 2018 and as Leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the first woman to hold either position. She is also Barbados' first prime minister under its republican system, following constitutional changes she introduced that abolished the country's constitutional monarchy.
Freundel Jerome Stuart, OR, PC, SC is a Barbadian politician who served as seventh Prime Minister of Barbados and the leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013; and from 21 February 2013 to 25 May 2018. He succeeded David Thompson, who had died in office on 23 October 2010 from pancreatic cancer.
General elections were held in Barbados on 7 December 1956. The result was a victory for the Barbados Labour Party, which won 15 of the 24 seats. MPs were elected across twelve two-member constituencies, using the block vote method. Voter turnout was 60.3%.
General elections were held in Barbados on 4 December 1961. They were the first held after Barbados was granted full self-government earlier in the year. 24 MPs were elected across twelve two-member constituencies, using the block vote method.
A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geological landslide buries whatever is in its path. A landslide victory is the opposite of an electoral wipeout; a party which wins in a landslide typically inflicts a wipeout on its opposition.
General elections were held in Barbados on 24 May 2018. The result was a landslide victory for the opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP), which won all 30 seats in the House of Assembly, resulting in BLP leader Mia Mottley becoming the country's first female Prime Minister. The BLP's victory was the first time a party had won every seat in the House of Assembly. Previously, the most one-sided result for a Barbadian election had been in 1999, when the BLP won 26 of the 28 seats. The BLP's 73.5 percent vote share was also the highest on record.
2.83pp)
