A snap election has been called in Barbados, and comes on the heels of the island becoming a Republic in November.

Barbadians will now head to the polls on January 19th, 2022, as Prime Minister Mia Mottley yesterday advised the President to dissolve the Parliament.

In her address explaining the decision to hold the election, Mottley called on the people of Barbados to “unite around a common cause, unite behind
a single government, unite behind a single leader.” She added that she did not want Barbados to be a “divided nation.”

Elections were not constitutionally due on the island until 2023.

Prime Minister Mottley was elected to office in May 2018, becoming the country’s first female leader. 

The Barbados Labour Party also won all 30 seats of the lower house of the Barbadian parliament in the 2018 election and currently retains 29 of those seats.