The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) will form the next government, led by its first female prime minister, and based on preliminary results, it will do so without any official opposition.
According to the Barbados Today Online News, preliminary figures showed that the BLP was ahead of the incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in all 30 constituencies as Mia Mottley moved closer to becoming the first woman to head a government in that CARICOM country.
Earlier, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, age 66, accepted “full responsibility” for the defeat of his Democratic Labour Party in the general election announcing also his move away from electoral politics in Barbados.
While the 52-year-old Mottley acknowledged there would be celebration, she said it was not a time to gloat but to unite the country to take it forward, and she reiterated her commitment to keeping the BLP’s campaign promises.
She announced that all schools would be closed today, and that with the exception of supermarkets and banks, she had advised businesses to close at 1:00pm.
Mottley said a Cabinet will be appointed by Monday.
She now joins a prestigious regional list of females including the late Dame Eugenia Charles of Dominica, the late Janet Jagan of Guyana, Portia Simpson Miller Jamaica and Kamla Persad-Bissessar Trinidad and Tobago in heading a government in the CARICOM region.
