An estimated 271 205 voters have begun casting their ballots in Wednesday’s snap general election that Prime Minister Mia Mottley called a year in advance, hoping to win a third consecutive term in office.
While six political parties and independent candidates, numbering 96, are facing the electorate for control of the 30-seat Parliament, political observers say the poll is a straight fight between the country’stwo oldest political parties – the incumbent Barbados Labur Party (BLP) and the main opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP).
The Supervisor of Elections, Sherland Turton, in a statement headlined ‘Prohibited Devices’ has said that while ‘voters are assured that there will be privacy’, polling booths ‘will be positioned so each voter will enter the booth with his or her back to the Presiding Officer’.
The polling stations opened at 6.00 am (local time) and will close 12 hours later.