Barbados to create seats for opposition after losing presence in parliament

The new Barbadian prime minister has announced the creation of two more seats in the Senate for an official opposition after the former ruling party lost last week’s election and all its seats in the House.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced on Monday that the Constitution will be amended to fill the absence of an official opposition from the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) which lost all 30 seats to the Barbados Labour Party.

“We have discussed the need for an urgent amendment of the Constitution to allow the opposition political party securing the highest number of votes two appointments to the Senate because we believe that even though there has been no official leader of the opposition, my government would wish to have accommodated, the views of the main opposition party,” she said.

She made the call to the DLP party and added that if they do not take up the offer, the governor will appoint two representatives to the Senate after consultation with organisations and other stakeholders.

Mia Motley was elected last week as the first female prime minister of the Caribbean Island of Barbados. She was on Friday sworn in as the eighth prime minister and the fifth female head of state in the English-speaking Caribbean.

She comes from a family of political leaders and was the island’s first female attorney-general.