Barbados - Politics

The September 1994 general election, held following a no-confidence vote which went against Prime Minister Erskine Sandiford, led to the defeat of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and brought to power a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) government headed by Owen Arthur. The BLP won 19 seats (48.3% of the vote), the DLP eight and National Democratic Party one.

Sir Henry Forde’s Constitutional Commission’s much-delayed report was published in December 1998. Its main proposals were to introduce more checks and balances on the government, to create the institutional structures to ensure politicians behave with greater probity, and to replace the British monarch as the head of state by a ceremonial president.

In the general election of January 1999, the BLP had a strong endorsement of their management of the economy and a mandate for their proposals for constitutional change. They gained 26 seats, with 65% of the votes, while the DLP took only two. Owen Arthur began his second term of office as prime minister.

During 1999 and 2000 the new government pressed on with the proposed changes to the constitution, adding further issues to the agenda for public debate, for example limiting the number of terms a prime minister may serve, equal rights for women, and the independence of the judiciary. However, the debate proceeded slowly.

In 2001, David Thompson, DLP leader in the 1994 and 1999 general elections, was succeeded by Clyde Mascoll.

Arthur and the BLP were once again given a strong endorsement in the May 2003 elections, though with 23 seats to the DLP’s seven, not as strong as in 1999. The BLP still had the two-thirds majority needed to enact constitutional amendments, although constitutional issues, such as replacing the British monarch as the head of state by a ceremonial president, had not been prominent in the election campaign. But in 2005 the UK Privy Council was replaced as the final court of appeal by the Trinidad and Tobago-based Caribbean Court of Justice.

Thompson returned to head the DLP in 2006 following the defection of Mascoll to the BLP. The DLP went on to win the general election in January 2008 ending the BLP’s 13 years in government; the DLP taking 20 of the 30 contested seats and BLP 10. Thompson was sworn in as prime minister.