Barbadians are set to vote just weeks after the removal of Queen Elizabeth from her position as head state.
Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley has announced the early election in a bid to unite the nation “around a common cause” and “behind a single government” after the island nation formally transformed into a republic.
Mottley, the country’s first female prime minister and leader of the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP), was elected in May 2018 and had until 2023 to go to the polls. Mottley, however, said Monday that she wanted to end what she called “the sexism” in a speech to the nation. “silly season,”She was vilified by critics for her reaction to the Covid pandemic.
Commenting on her government’s performance, Mottley claimed her administration oversaw economic and financial successes that helped the country recover from the critical blow to tourism caused by the Covid pandemic.
Voters will be able to vote in this decision weeks after Barbados, a British colony that lasted more than 300 centuries, removed Queen Elizabeth II, its head, from the position of head, and transitioned into a republic.
Dame Sandra Mason, the former governor-general, was sworn in as the country’s president in November, having previously secured the support of a joint session of the House of Assembly and Senate.
Barbados joined Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica to become a republic. This reduced the number of ex-British colonies who still consider the Queen the head of their state.
November’s formal ceremony marked the end of a decades-long process for Barbados, which began in 1998 when a constitutional commission recommended the nation become a republic. While the governments that followed failed to make progress, Mottley’s administration began the formal steps to move past its colonial legacy in 2020.
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