General Information
At stake in this election:
- All 30 seats in the House of Assembly (lower house) [1].
Description of government structure [2]:
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Chief of State: President Sandra MASON (since 30 November 2021)
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Head of Government: Prime Minister Mia MOTTLEY (since 25 May 2018)
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Assembly: Barbados has a bicameral Parliament. The Upper House, or the Senate, has 21 seats*. The Lower House, the House of Assembly, has 30 seats.
Description of electoral system [2]:
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The President is elected by an electoral college of both Houses of Parliament for a four-year renewable term*.
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The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and is usually the leader of the majority party or coalition.
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Members of the Senate (Upper House) are appointed by the President (12 on the advice of the Prime Minister, 2 on the advice of the opposition leader, and 7 at the discretion of the President).
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Members of the House of Assembly (Lower House) are directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote to serve 5-year terms.
*Note: Barbados elected to become a republic and remove the Queen of England as the Chief of State on November 30th, 2021 [3].
Last Election:
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The last House of Assembly elections were held on May 24th, 2018. 153,745 votes were cast (60% voter turnout). The Barbados Labor Party won 30 seats (72.83% of the vote) and the Democratic Labour Party won 0 seats but 33,985 votes (22.10% of the vote) [4].
Main parties in this election:
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Barbados Labour Party
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Leader: Mia MOTTLEY
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Seats won in last election: 30 of 30
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Democratic Labour Party
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Leader: Verla DE PEIZA
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Seats won in last election 0 out of 30
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Alliance Party for Progress (PdP-UPP)**
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Leader: Joseph ATHERLEY
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Seats won in last election: 0 out of 30
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Solutions Barbados
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Leader: Grenville PHILLIPS II
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Seats won in last election: 0 out of 30
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Bajan Free Party
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Leader: Alex MITCHELL
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Seats won in last election: 0 out of 30
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New Barbados Kingdom Alliance**
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Leader: Apostle Lynroy SCANTLEBURY
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Seats won in last election: 0 out of 30
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Barbados Sovereignty Party**
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Leader: Philip CATLYN
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Seats won in last election: 0 out of 30
*Note: there are also a number of candidates running without a party affiliation: Melissa TAITT, Omar SMITH, Wayne BECKLES, Buddy LARRIER, Donald LEACOCK, Brian TALMA, Samuel MAYNARD, Erskine ALLEYNE, Joseph JORDAN, and Fallon BEST.
**Note: this is a new party established for the 2022 election.
Population and number of registered voters:
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Population: 301, 865 (as of July 2021) [2]
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Registered Voters: 255,833 (as of 2018) [5]
Gender Data:
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Female Population: 148,000 (2019 est.) [6]
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Is Barbados a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (signed 24 July 1980)
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Has Barbados ratified CEDAW: Yes (ratified 16 October 1980) [7]
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Gender Quota: Not available
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Female candidates in this election: Yes
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Number of Female Legislators: 6 out of 30 [12]
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Human Development Index Position: 0.814 (Ranked 58) [8]
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Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Not Available [9]
Disability Data:
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Is Barbados a signatory to CRPD: Yes (signed 19 July 2007)
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Has Barbados ratified CRPD: Yes (ratified 27 February 2013) [10]
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Population with a disability: 43,591 (2021 est.) [11]