Amending the Constitution to prevent Members of Parliament from crossing the floor is “a proposal that strikes at the very heart of how our democracy functions, how power is exercised, and whose voice ultimately matters in this country”, says Opposition Senator Ryan Walters.
Walters, the Democratic Labour Party’s candidate for St Michael North West in the just concluded February 11 General Election, made the observation in a statement issued on Tuesday as the House of Assembly debated theConstitution (Amendment) Bill, 2026. He was appointed an Opposition senator after his party failed to capture any of the 30 seats, giving the Barbados Labour Party its third clean sweep in seven years.
“This amendment would shift power decisively away from voters and place it in the hands of party leadership. Under this proposal, an MP who speaks out against a party decision, perhaps because it harms their constituency, could face expulsion and immediate removal from Parliament, possibly at the sole discretion of the party leader.
“In effect, the voice of thousands of voters could be silenced overnight, not by an election, but by an internal party meeting.
In recent times, we have seen how dissent caused dismissal at the parliamentarian level,” he said.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of the ruling BLP signalled her intention to address the issue of crossing the floor on February 12 after the decisive victory and against a background of defections in 2018 when the party won its first 30-0 General Election and again two years after it won the January 2022 election with a similar score.
Walters, in his opposition to the amendment, said: “Let me be clear, political stability matters.
Order matters. Rules matter. But stability that is achieved by weakening democratic choice, undermining voter sovereignty and concentrating power in the hands of a few is not true stability. It is control and history teaches us that when control replaces consent, democracy suffers.”
He pointed out that there was no recognition of parties in the Constitution, only individuals, and therefore the antidefection bill should be scrapped. (AC)
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