A1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? | 4.004 4.004 |
The prime minister, usually the leader of the largest party in Parliament, is head of government. The British monarch is head of state, represented by a governor general. In September 2020, however, the Barbadian government announced that it would remove the British monarch as head of state and become a republic by November 2021. Dame Sandra Mason was appointed governor general in 2018.
Mia Mottley of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) was appointed prime minister after her party decisively won the May 2018 general elections, unseating Freundel Stuart of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). The polls were regarded as competitive and credible.
A2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? | 4.004 4.004 |
Members of the 30-seat House of Assembly, the lower house, are directly elected for five-year terms. The governor general appoints the 21 members of the upper house, the Senate: 12 on the advice of the prime minister, 2 on the advice of the leader of the opposition, and the remaining 7 at their own discretion. Senators serve five-year terms.
The results of parliamentary elections held in May 2018 were accepted by all stakeholders. The opposition BLP took all 30 seats in the House of Assembly. Bishop Joseph Atherley, originally a BLP member who was elected in the May 2018 polls, subsequently sat as an independent to become the leader of the opposition.
A3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? | 4.004 4.004 |
The independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) oversees elections in Barbados in a professional manner. Its five commissioners are chosen based on their expertise by the prime minister and the opposition for a maximum term of five years.
B1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? | 4.004 4.004 |
Political parties form and operate freely. New parties emerged in 2018 to challenge the traditionally dominant BLP and DLP, but all failed to win any seats. In June 2019, Atherley launched the People’s Party for Democracy and Development—a self-described socialist and Christian movement that was joined by two opposition senators.
B2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? | 4.004 4.004 |
Opposition parties have a realistic chance of gaining power, which has historically rotated peacefully between the BLP and DLP. The BLP’s landslide victory over the DLP in 2018 highlighted the political system’s competitiveness.
B3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Are the people’s political choices free from domination by forces that are external to the political sphere, or by political forces that employ extrapolitical means? | 4.004 4.004 |
Voters and candidates are generally able to express their political choices without interference from actors that are not democratically accountable.
B4 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, racial, religious, gender, LGBT+, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? | 4.004 4.004 |
Barbados’s population is fully enfranchised, with adult citizens, Commonwealth citizens, and foreigners with seven years’ residency able to vote. Laws protect the political rights of women, but conservative, discriminatory attitudes and societal marginalization can discourage women from running for office. Although Mia Mottley became the country’s first woman to be prime minister in 2018, politics remain dominated by men. Women make up only 20 percent of the House of Assembly.
C1 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? | 4.004 4.004 |
The prime minister and members of Parliament are largely unimpeded in their ability to craft and implement policy, notwithstanding the powerful role played by labor unions, the demands of international creditors, and the growing influence of China.
C2 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? | 3.003 4.004 |
Barbados’s government has failed to implement key anticorruption measures. Civil society groups, business figures, and the attorney general have complained of serious incidences of corruption, but no major officials have faced arrest under the Mottley administration. Potential whistleblowers fear costly defamation suits.
Barbados is one of just seven countries in the Americas to have neither signed nor ratified the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. The government is also yet to ratify the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), having signed the treaty in 2003. However, in January 2018 the government ratified the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, which it signed in 2001.
Concerns over major alleged irregularities prior to the Mottley administration at eight state-owned enterprises, including the Barbados Water Authority (BWA), surfaced in June 2020.
In Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer published in September 2019, perceived corruption in Barbados was the lowest in the Americas, with 55 percent of respondents believing that the Mottley administration is doing a good job in fighting corruption.
C3 1.00-4.00 pts0-4 pts
| Does the government operate with openness and transparency? | 3.003 4.004 |
Academic experts praised the BLP government’s transparency during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the use of regular press briefings. However, Barbados lacks key laws to ensure this openness persists, notably, a long-promised Freedom of Information Act. A long-promised Integrity in Public Life Bill—which would require politicians and senior officials to declare their personal wealth and would create a new Integrity Commission—was passed by the House of Assembly in July 2020 but failed to pass the Senate in August. Information on the country’s national budget is difficult to obtain.
The Mottley administration passed a Public Finance Management Act, involving greater oversight of state-owned enterprises, in 2019, and an ongoing Public Sector Modernisation Project aims to improve citizens’ access to public spending information.
In October 2020, the European Council added Barbados to a list of noncooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, reflecting a “partially compliant” rating given to the country by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in April 2020.
