President Jeffrey Bostic’s last-minute appointment of Karina Goodridge and Ryan Walters as opposition senators has upended political expectations in Barbados, political observers said Friday, suggesting that the decision was a misstep by the Democratic Labour Party that ultimately worked against its own interests.
The development followed a tense week of speculation after the DLP submitted just two names – party president Ralph Thorne and St Michael North West candidate Ryan Walters – to President Jeffrey Bostic for consideration, despite a reported request for at least four nominees.
When the appointments were announced on Friday, the President selected Walters and Goodridge, the Friends of Democracy leader, effectively reshaping the opposition benches and triggering widespread debate about constitutional discretion and political strategy.
Political scientist Deveron Bruce told Barbados TODAY that the outcome might have been different had the DLP complied more fully with the President’s request.
“Had the Democratic Labour Party done what the President would have asked them to do, I would not have expected Karina’s name to be on that listing,” Bruce said. “But given they only submitted two names with, to my mind, a deliberate attempt to influence the outcome, Karina became a silent winner in the DLP’s debacle.”
Bruce noted that Senator Walters’ selection was less surprising.
“The Ryan one I was expecting in the sense that it will be very difficult for the President to make a selection of opposition senators and the DLP senator is not one of them. But I think Karina now has emerged as a winner due to the obvious chaos.”
Addressing public criticism that the DLP, as the party with the second-highest vote count in the last general election, should have secured both seats, Bruce argued that the matter ultimately rests on constitutional authority rather than vote totals.
“I think politics in Barbados is changing,” he said. “The expectation is that the DLP would be the individuals selected to be the opposition senators, both of them, but the reality is that you now have emerging entities that are challenging in many ways the presence of the DLP politically and clearly, parliamentary ways as well.”
While acknowledging that the DLP received significantly more votes than third parties, Bruce said the issue goes beyond numbers.
“As an organisation and institution it goes beyond votes. You have to consider things such as the fact that it did not have the negotiating power as it relates to the Senate appointments, but yet you try to influence the President’s hand and limit his flexibility,” he said.
“Quite frankly, it’s a question of the President’s discretion as opposed to the number of votes the party received. Had they managed that process a lot more effectively, they would have probably received the two senators. But fundamentally it’s a constitutional question of discretion, so the President per se does not have to consider how many votes the DLP got. In all fairness he should, but there’s nothing written in law that says that’s the case.”
Pollster Peter Wickham also supported the President’s decision, describing it as appropriate within the bounds of the Constitution.
“I thought it was an excellent choice,” Wickham said. He added that Walters was always a strong contender. “I had thought Ryan Walters should be one of them; another pick would have been Kemar Stewart, but I also appreciate that that was without paying attention to the fact that the Friends of Democracy party would have secured more support. I don’t think you can quarrel with the President’s decision.”
Wickham admitted he was initially unaware that the President had issued more than one letter seeking nominations, but maintained that the Constitution grants the Head of State broad authority in the matter.
“My sense is that he could have made this judgement without sending off a letter, period, because the Constitution speaks to his deliberate judgement,” Wickham said. “But nonetheless, it’s useful that he did, to get an expression of their own interests.”
He suggested that the DLP may have misunderstood the nature of the request.
“The DLP assumed that the President’s offer was the offer to fill both seats, and they assumed that they would have power to advise in relation to this matter. But clearly that was not the intention,” Wickham said. “If the request was for four names, they should provide four names, but they decided to short-circuit it by providing two names in the effort to tie his hand in that regard.”
Wickham argued that the President’s final decision reaffirmed constitutional clarity.
“The Constitution is clear that the choice is his, his own deliberate judgement, and by attempting to influence him by providing two names was to me to put His Excellency in a most unfortunate position – and that has been rectified now by virtue of the fact that he has essentially demonstrated that it is his choice to make and not theirs.”
Beyond the constitutional debate, Wickham suggested the development may have internal political consequences for the DLP.
“I think the other interesting point is that Ryan Walters now becomes the political leader of the DLP overnight. So that, that to me is a good thing,” he said.
He was more pointed about the future of party president Ralph Thorne.
“This helps the DLP free itself from… of Ralph Thorne,” Wickham said, adding that Thorne should consider stepping aside. “Because by not even being able to deliver a single seat, he’s demonstrated an incapacity to serve at that level, and I feel that like any good president, he should walk away.”
For both analysts, the episode underscores a broader transformation underway in Barbadian politics – one in which emerging political movements are gaining traction and long-established parties can no longer rely solely on historical dominance or vote share to secure influence.
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