Country that dumped Queen as head of state holds snap election

Barbadians will head to the polls just weeks after removing Queen Elizabeth as head of state

Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley has announced the early election in a bid to unite the nation “around a common cause” and “behind a single government” after the island nation formally transformed into a republic.

Mottley, the country’s first female prime minister and leader of the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP), was elected in May 2018 and had until 2023 to go to the polls. However, speaking in an address to the nation on Monday, Mottley said she was seeking to put an end to what she called “silly season,” after getting blasted by critics over her response to the Covid pandemic. 

Commenting on her government’s performance, Mottley claimed her administration oversaw economic and financial successes that helped the country recover from the critical blow to tourism caused by the Covid pandemic.

The decision will see voters head to the ballot box only weeks after Barbados, which had been a British colony for more than 300 years, removed Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and completed its transition into a republic.

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Dame Sandra Mason, the former governor-general, was sworn in as the country’s president in November, having previously secured the support of a joint session of the House of Assembly and Senate.

Barbados followed Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominica in becoming a republic, reducing the number of former British colonies that still call the Queen their head of state.

November’s formal ceremony marked the end of a decades-long process for Barbados, which began in 1998 when a constitutional commission recommended the nation become a republic. While the governments that followed failed to make progress, Mottley’s administration began the formal steps to move past its colonial legacy in 2020.