For the third straight general election, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) claimed every seat in the House of Assembly, delivering yet another 30–0 mandate to Prime Minister-elect Mia Mottley and solidifying her dominance of the island’s political landscape on Wednesday.
Jubilant celebrations erupted at the party’s Roebuck Street headquarters, Grantley Adams House, as results rolled in through the night, with supporters gathered in a swirling sea of red t-shirts.
Mottley marked the victory by declaring Friday a national public holiday and announcing a national thanksgiving and celebration rally for Saturday afternoon – Valentine’s Day – at the National Botanical Gardens.
“Friday will be a national bank holiday in Barbados,” she announced. “All roads on Saturday afternoon, 4 p.m. at the National Botanical Gardens. Saturday is not only the day of love. Saturday is the day of red, red, red.”
The BLP’s first confirmed win came just after 11 p.m. when Santia Bradshaw, deputy prime minister in the last administration, was declared the winner of St Michael South East. Bradshaw secured 3 050 votes, defeating the Democratic Labour Party’s Pedro Shepherd, who received 734 votes. Independent Roy Turner polled 50.
In one of the most anticipated contests, St John, Charles Griffith retained the seat with 2 327 votes, defeating two political leaders – the DLP’s Ralph Thorne receiving 1 877 votes, while Kemar Stuart of the New National Party, contesting as part of the People’s Coalition for Progress (PCP), trailed the field with 236.
In St Michael North West, incumbent Neil Rowe held off what began as a strong challenge from the DLP’s Ryan Walters. Rowe won with 1 674 votes to Walters’s 1 441, while Friends of Democracy (FOD) candidate Ricardo Williams received 36 votes.
Mottley comfortably retained St Michael North East with 3 570 votes. Her DLP opponent, Jamal Sandiford, polled 391 votes, while independent Clarene Howard got 96. In the 2022 election, Mottley won the seat with 3 216 votes.
The BLP also held St Lucy, with incumbent Peter Phillips securing 2 211 votes ahead of DLP candidate Ian Griffith, who polled 2 026. PCP candidate Wayne Griffith received 134 votes, while FOD candidate Sherlan Davis getting 37.
In St Joseph, a Labour party stronghold for generations, first-time BLP candidate Ryan Brathwaite won with 2 662 votes. DLP candidate Randall Rouse received 881.
St Michael Central went to first-timer Tyra Trotman, the youngest on the party’s slate, who crossed the floor months after parting ways with the DLP. Trotman won 1 962 votes with DLP candidate Andre Worrell’s 464 votes, FOD candidate Raymond Wiggins at 168, and PCP candidate Anthony Hinds at 72.
In the City of Bridgetown, former DLP member Michael Lashley, the former DLP MP and cabinet minister now contesting for the BLP, won with 2 312 votes. DLP candidate Dale Rowe received 425 votes, while PCP candidate Corey Beckles polled 92.
Christ Church South was also captured by the BLP, with first-time candidate Dr Shantal Munro-Knight securing 2 300 votes. Her DLP opponent Corey Greenidge received 1 048 votes, while independents Robert Toussaint and Christopher Alleyne received 29 and 77 respectively.
In a close contest in St Philip North, BLP incumbent Dr Sonia Browne with 2 434 votes edged past the DLP’s Simon Clarke, who received 2 128. FOD candidate Anya Lorde polled 119 votes, while the PCP’s Nigel Newton received 26.
Addressing supporters after the landslide result, Mottley said the victory carried responsibility, not entitlement.
She said: “We did not come simply to hold office. We have come to make Barbados better, and to make your lives better.”
She stressed the need to protect democratic institutions despite repeated overwhelming mandates, even as she rejoiced in the victory of each BLP candidate over the main challenger, the DLP.
“We now know in Barbados more than ever the importance of strong political institutions,” Mottley said. “And let this Labour Party never take it for granted.
“Even though we have received overwhelming mandates from the people of Barbados, we will guard and tender and take care of this democracy as if it was a newborn child, requiring our total attention and care.”
Mottley also pledged renewed focus on issues raised on the campaign trail.
“We do not turn our eyes away from the concerns of our constituents, constituency by constituency,” she said.
“Whether it is traffic or roads, or the state of our health care, or indeed the issue of public safety, I give you this assurance tonight… this team… will be required to be able to make progress on all of these areas.”
She signalled a swift return to governance following the brief celebrations.
“I expect that the Cabinet will have to be sworn in on Monday,” Mottley said. “I have asked Parliament to get the business of Parliament ready for an opening no later than next Friday.
“We will do our rest, celebrate, but come Monday we start the work of the next five years of transforming this nation.”
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