Barbados voters prove pollsters wrong; re-elect DLP led by PM Freundel Stuart

Chart by CARIBBEAN ELECTIONS

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart of Barbados proved the pollsters wrong and led his Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to victory in Thursday’s general election.

PM Freundel Stuart goes to vote Thursday

Photo from BARBADOS TODAY INC

The result was close - 16 of the 30 seats for the governing party and 13 for the opposition with one seat still undecided. There were tense moments during the vote count Thursday night and up to midnight analysts were suggesting that the government would fall.

Owen Arthur leaves the polling station after voting Thursday

That was a view held by pollsters, including the Barbados-based CADRES organisation, which had predicted that the opposition Barbados Labour Party led by former Prime Minister Owen Arthur would win between 17 and 20 seats in the legislature. CADRES is the agency that said the Congress of the People (COP) would win the 2007 general election in Trinidad and Tobago.

Preliminary results show the people were not swayed by the pollsters and instead chose to maintain the status quo instead of opting for change as Grenadians did on Monday when they tossed out the Tillman Thomas administration and returned Keith Mitchell to government with all 15 seats.

However the electorate sent a signal to the DLP that it cannot be business as usual. The party won 20 of the 30 seats in the 2008 general election under the leadership of David Thompson who died in office in 2010.

Among the winners in Thursday's election was Thompson's widow, Mara Thompson, who first entered parliament in 2011 in a by-election for the seat that her late husband held.

Arthur had hoped that he would return to lead a BLP government but now he must consider where he can continue to lead the party, analysts said Thursday night. 

Mia Mottley

The leadership might revert to Mia Mottley, who initially led the party following the 2008 defeat.