Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Minority Barbados opposition parties forming coalition to contest January poll

Published:Saturday | January 1, 2022 | 4:46 PM
Political observers say Mottley’s Barbados Labour Party, which won the 2018 general election by a 30-nil sweep, will face its sternest test from the long established Democratic Party that it trounced in the last general election.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados:
Several minority opposition political parties are holding talks with a view to forming a coalition to contest the January 19 general election that Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced this week, 18 months ahead of the end of her first five-year term in office.

Political observers say Mottley's Barbados Labour Party (BLP), which won the 2018 general election by a 30-nil sweep, will face its sternest test from the long established Democratic Party (DLP) that it trounced in the last general election.

But the outgoing Opposition Leader, Bishop Joseph Atherley has already announced the formation of a new coalition, called the Alliance Party for Progress (APP) that includes the United Progressive Party (UPP) led by Lynette Eastmond.

Eastmond, will serve as deputy leader in the APP.

Now, the leader of Solutions Barbados, Grenville Phillips II, says his party will be forming a coalition with three other undisclosed political parties to contest the polls.

Speaking to the media as four Solution Barbados candidates paid their deposits in order to contest the election, Phillips said that hopefully by the evening of December 31, his party would have 30 candidates to cover all the constituencies.

"The important thing is that every constituency must have a chance. They must know what they are voting for. We have heard it before when people cry wolf and say this is the most important election. This really is the most important election for Barbados. This one determines what happens in 2022,” Phillips said.

Meanwhile, former BLP government legislator, Lucille Moe, who, for months, had been absent from the Senate, is reported to be a campaign strategist for the DLP.

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