Reuters, Bridgetown :
Barbados elected its first female prime minister as the opposition inflicted a crushing defeat on the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP), winning all the seats in the Caribbean island’s parliament, election results showed on Friday.
Mia Mottley’s victory in Thursday’s elections returns the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to power on the island of some 285,000 people for the first time in a decade.
The Electoral and Boundaries Commission said the BLP had elected all 30 members of the parliament, delivering the first clean sweep in the history of the legislature. The DLP had previously held a slim majority with 16 seats.
“This victory is the people of Barbados’ victory,” Mottley, 52, told supporters outside the BLP’s Bridgetown headquarters early on Friday, calling the result a vote for a more inclusive and transparent kind of leadership for Barbados.
“This must be our legacy to the people of Barbados: to give you back your government and your governance,” said Mottley, a former minister and attorney general who was sworn in later on Friday.
The result means the Barbadian House of Assembly is without an official opposition, despite the fact that an unprecedented 135 candidates ran for office across nine parties.
Barbados elected its first female prime minister as the opposition inflicted a crushing defeat on the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP), winning all the seats in the Caribbean island’s parliament, election results showed on Friday.
Mia Mottley’s victory in Thursday’s elections returns the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to power on the island of some 285,000 people for the first time in a decade.
The Electoral and Boundaries Commission said the BLP had elected all 30 members of the parliament, delivering the first clean sweep in the history of the legislature. The DLP had previously held a slim majority with 16 seats.
“This victory is the people of Barbados’ victory,” Mottley, 52, told supporters outside the BLP’s Bridgetown headquarters early on Friday, calling the result a vote for a more inclusive and transparent kind of leadership for Barbados.
“This must be our legacy to the people of Barbados: to give you back your government and your governance,” said Mottley, a former minister and attorney general who was sworn in later on Friday.
The result means the Barbadian House of Assembly is without an official opposition, despite the fact that an unprecedented 135 candidates ran for office across nine parties.
