Barbados: Prime Minister Freundel Stuart to announce elections date in coming weeks

Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart. PHOTO/File

Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has indicated that he will announce the date for the next general elections in the coming weeks.

Prime Minister Stuart made the announcement during a function of his ruling Democratic Labor Party (DLP) on Monday night.

The opposition Barbados Labor Party (BLP) led by Owen Arthur has been calling for elections over the past few months, arguing that it has been five years since the last election – that swept the DLP into power. The BLP had boycotted parliament as it called the Stuart administration to announce the date of the general elections.

In the lastest CADRES poll completed last week, Stuart, whose “preferred” leadership rating was 9.9 percent in May last year and 11 percent in September, has now jumped to 23 percent. Stuart’s 12 per cent increase, however, has been matched by Arthur, whose leadership rating has moved from 29.8 percent in May last year and 27 percent in September to this week’s current 39 percent. 53 percent of voters disapprove of the way the Prime Minister is doing his job.