General elections were held in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

on 24 May 2018. The result was a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...

for the opposition

Barbados Labour Party The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), colloquially known as the "Bees", is a social democratic political party in Barbados established in 1938. Led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, it is the governing party of Barbados and the sole ruling party i ...

(BLP), which won all 30 seats in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

,Barbados elects Mia Mottley as first woman PM
BBC News, 25 May 2018 resulting in BLP leader

Mia Mottley Mia Amor Mottley, (born 1 October 1965) is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as the eighth prime minister of Barbados since 2018 and as Leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the first woman to hold ...

becoming the country's first female

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

. The BLP's victory was the first time a party had won every seat in the House of Assembly. Previously, the most one-sided result for a Barbadian election had been in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, when the BLP won 26 of the 28 seats. The BLP's 73.5 percent vote share was also the highest on record. The ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) led by

Freundel Stuart Freundel Jerome Stuart, OR, PC, SC (born 27 April 1951) is a Barbadian politician who served as seventh Prime Minister of Barbados and the leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013; and from 21 Febr ...

lost all 16 seats, the worst defeat of a sitting government in Barbadian history. The DLP saw its vote share more than halve compared to the previous elections in 2013, with only one of its candidates receiving more than 40 percent of the vote. Stuart was defeated in his own constituency, receiving only 26.7 percent of the vote,Report on 2018 election
Caribbean Elections the second time a sitting Prime Minister had lost their own seat. It was also the first time since independence that the constituency of St John, a traditionally DLP stronghold, was won by the BLP. The election was fought primarily on the DLP's stewardship of the economy during its decade in power. The government had had to contend with numerous downgrades of its credit rating due to fallout from the

global financial crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

. The BLP criticised the DLP over rising taxes and a declining

standard of living Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available, generally applied to a society or location, rather than to an individual. Standard of living is relevant because it is considered to contribute to an individual's quality ...

, and promised numerous infrastructure upgrades if elected.

Electoral system

The 30 members of the House of Assembly were elected by

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

in single-member constituencies.

Candidates

A record 134 candidates from nine political parties contested the elections. Four of the smaller parties chose to fight together under the 'Coalition of United Parties' banner.

Results

By constituency

Christ Church East

Christ Church East Central

Christ Church South

Christ Church West

Christ Church West Central

City of Bridgetown

St. Andrew

St. George North

St. George South

St. James Central

St. James North

St. James South

St. John

St. Joseph

St. Lucy

St. Michael Central

St. Michael East

St. Michael North

St. Michael North East

St. Michael North West

St. Michael South

St. Michael South Central

St. Michael South East

St. Michael West

St. Michael West Central

St. Peter

St. Philip North

St. Philip South

St. Philip West

St. Thomas

Aftermath

One week after the elections,

Joseph Atherley Joseph Junior Sylvester Atherley (born 26 February 1954) is a Barbadian religious minister and politician who served as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly of Barbados from 2018 to 2022, and as leader of the People's Party for Demo ...

, MP for St. Michael West,

crossed the floor Crossed may refer to: * ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis * ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie * "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead'' S ...

to become the House of Assembly's sole opposition member, citing concerns about democracy. He was subsequently appointed Leader of the Opposition. Originally sitting as an independent, he set up his own party, the

People's Party for Democracy and Development The People's Party for Democracy and Development (PdP), abbreviated as the People's Party, is a political party in Barbados established on 8 June 2019 and led by Joseph Atherley. At its foundation, it served as the main opposition party in bot ...

2020 St George North by-election

A by-election was held in the constituency of St George North on 11 November 2020 following the resignation of

Gline Clarke Gline Arley Clarke (born 9 February 1951) is a Barbadian politician and teacher. He was a member of parliament in the House of Assembly of Barbados. Clarke is the Barbados Ambassador to Canada since September 2020. Early life Clarke was born ...

, who had represented the constituency for 26 years, to accept the post of Barbadian High Commissioner to Canada. It was the first by-election to take place since the 2018 general election. Toni Moore retained the seat for the BLP.

References

{{Barbadian elections

2018 in Barbados Elections in Barbados May 2018 events in North America Landslide victories