Prime Minister Mottley Announces Date for By-election

Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Mottley on Saturday announced that a by-election will be held on November 11 in the constituency of St. George North.

PM Mottley made the announcement on Saturday afternoon during a press conference.

Nomination Day has been set for October 26.

Candidates will be vying for the seat left vacant by Gline Clarke who announced two weeks ago that he was stepping down to take up the role as Barbados’ High Commissioner to Canada.

The candidates named to contest the seat are: Floyd Reifer for the Democratic Labour Party, Senator Toni Moore for the Barbados Labour Party, David Walrond for the People’s Party for Democracy and Development, Grenville Phillips II for Solutions Barbados and Ambrose Grosvenor for the United Progressive Party.

Due to Covid regulations, fewer political rallies would be held. Thus, candidates will face off in televised debates, a first in the country’s political history.

Mottley said:

I would like to say to you that this is an unusual election because it comes in the middle of a global pandemic and to that extent, we are asking not just our own selves as a party, but all parties and all candidates and all constituents to recognize it is not business as usual.

We recognize that there will likely be far less political rallies than would normally be the situation in an election. There will be some and I think that we have managed to be able to work out the spacing issue, but it also means there will be challenges in terms of the intensity of interaction.