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Barbados Elections: Democratic Labor Party of Freundel Stuart, re-elected
Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, re-elected
Voters in Barbados voters kept with tradition and provided the incumbent Democratic Labor Party of Prime Minister Freundel Stuart with a second consecutive term in the general elections held on Thursday.
According to the preliminary results, the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) won 16 of the 30 seats in the elections with the remainder going to the main opposition Barbados Labor Party (BLP) of Owen Arthur. In the 2008 general election, the DLP won 20 seats.
The results are in mark contrast to the opinion polls that had predicted that the BLP, would have won as many as 20 seats, while the DLP would have gained 13 seats at most.
“The people have spoken …we accept the will of the people,” Arthur said, adding “we were up against a number of factors.”
Both Prime Minister Stuart and Arthur comfortably won their seats, but there was defeat for Labor Minister Esther Byer-Sukoo, who lost to newcomer Dwight Sutherland.
Prime Minister Stuart 61, has not yet addressed supporters following the results, but he had earlier indicated that he was confident that the DLP would be returned to office.
He insisted that the DLP had conducted a “very efficient campaign” and that it is sure the public had been fully acquainted with the policies of the party going into the election.
The results could also change as a recount has been ordered in the St. Michael South East constituency where Santia Bradshaw of the BLP won over Patrick Tannis by less than 10 votes.
Political analyst Hartley Henry said that the electorate had sent a message to both parties and more so raises the question as to the leadership of Arthur, who had sought to regain the government he lost in 2008 by a 20-10 margin.
Arthur told reporters he was not going to comment on his future in the party.
Celebrations broke out at the DLP headquarters and in other areas on the island, after supporters had waited anxiously for the results of the St. Phillip South constituency which was retained by attorney general Adriel Brathwaite by more than 400 votes. The seat was the last to be declared and earlier supporters of both parties were resigned to a hung parliament after media reports said that the BLP candidate Anthony Wood had won, resulting in a 15-15 tie.
The BLP had made the state of the economy, high cost of living an issue during the three week campaign, but the DLP had countered that it had started the process of reversing the situation by implementing a number of policies.
Prime Minister Stuart had reminded supporters “we are not governing in easy circumstances. We had to govern in the context of the worst crisis the world had seen in over 100 years”. He said he was always confident that the voters would have rebuffed the policies of the opposition and told supporters that with the election over “we are not going to embark on any revenge”. – (CMC)