MIA MOTTLEY LEADS BARBADOS LABOUR PARTY TO A THIRD CLEAN SWEEP

Prime Minister Mia Mottley and the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) have secured a historic third consecutive term, following a resounding victory in the general elections on Wednesday, February 11th.

Not only has Barbados’s first female prime minister secured a third straight term for her party and government, but she also accomplished it in an unbroken third clean sweep.

The snap general election in Barbados, called a full year ahead of the constitutional end of the five-year governing period, again saw Mottley and the BLP snap up all 30 seats in the country’s parliament.

“Our mission first and foremost is to stop poor people from being poor, and to remove injustice wherever it exists to create opportunities for people,” the BL leader and returning prime minister said in a victory speech on Wednesday night.

“We did not come simply to hold office. We have come to make Barbados better and to make your lives better,” the victorious leader declared.

Tremendously popular on the international stage, Mottley has been a leading global voice speaking out on behalf of small island states - especially on climate change and environmental issues. However, targeting what they felt were weaknesses in her national policies, the main Opposition Democratic Labour Party(DLP) still failed to make a serious impact.

“People empowerment must come before international praise. Accountability and transparency must come before PR(public relations) and optics,” said new DLP leader Ralph Thorne when Mottley launched her third re-election bid on January 17th. He said his party has been in a process of regrouping and rebuilding following its humiliating defeat in the 2022 election.

With Mr Thorne, himself a former member of the BLP, failing to win a seat, it’s back to the drawing board for the DLP as it again proved unable to improve its electoral prospects.

In addition to the historically main parties, the BLP and the DLP, eight other political parties contested the election, fielding a total of 93 candidates. Three of the parties had joined forces: the United Progressive Party (UPP), the New National Party (NNP), and the Conservative Barbados Leadership Party (CBLP), formed a new coalition called the People’s Coalition for Progress (PCP). They also failed to win a single seat among themselves.

One of the key cross-party concerns coming out of the 2026 election in Barbados is the historically low voter turnout, said to be around 30 per cent, down from 45 per cent in the previous poll in 2022, which was then the lowest on record.

With the electoral affirmation that it remains the dominant force in Barbados politics after last Wednesday’s victory, the ruling BLP has already embarked on its growth and legislative agenda for its new term. It has indicated that one of its top priorities in this governing period - in addition to expanding its social and economic management policies - is to pass legislation which could initiate a dramatic shift in local politics.

The government has committed to tabling legislation - expected to easily pass given its overwhelming majority - stipulating that any member crossing the floor of the Barbados Parliament must first undergo a by-election.

In the last parliament, the current leader of the DLP, Ralph Thorne, who had campaigned with the BLP in 2022, crossed the floor in 2024 to sit as the sole Opposition member, arguing that a Parliament without an Opposition was undemocratic.

Thorne, who had started his political career as a member of the DLP, subsequently rejoined the party as its leader.

Michael L. Jarvis London UK