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 4 December 1961.Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p90 They were the first held after Barbados was granted full

self-government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

earlier in the year. 24 MPs were elected across twelve two-member constituencies, using the block vote method. Although the incumbent

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 ...

(BLP) received more votes, the non-proportional electoral system allowed the opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to win 14 of the 24 seats and form a government for the first time. Among the defeated BLP candidates was the Premier Hugh Gordon Cummins, who lost his St. Thomas seat. This was also the last time an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

was elected to the Assembly, with trade union leader Frank Leslie Walcott winning a seat in the St. Peter constituency.''Caribbean Elections'' Voter turnout was 61.3%.

Results

References

1961 in Barbados Elections in Barbados West Indies Federation December 1961 events in North America {{Barbados-stub