House of Assembly of Barbados

The House of Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Barbados. It has 30 Members of Parliament (MPs), MPs are directly elected in single member constituencies using the simple-majority (or First-past-the-post) system for a term of five years. The House of Assembly sits roughly 40–45 days a year.

House of Assembly
Type
Type
Lower House
of the Parliament of Barbados
Leadership
Arthur E. Holder, Barbados Labour Party
since 05 June 2018
Leader of the Opposition
Joseph Atherley[1], People’s Party for Democracy and Development
since 01 June 2018
Structure
Seats30
Political groups
Her Majesty's Government
Political groups
Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition
  •      People’s Party for Democracy and Development (1)
Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
24 May 2018
Next election
2023
Meeting place
House of Assembly chamber
Bridgetown,
St. Michael,
Barbados, West Indies
Website
The House of Assembly
Barbados
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Barbados

The Barbadian House of Assembly chamber is located in the east-wing of The Public Buildings on Broad Street, in Bridgetown, Barbados. The Speaker of the House becomes the thirty-first member when there is a tie vote.

Oath or affirmation

Under section 59 of the constitution, before entering upon the functions of his or her office, the MPs must take the oath of allegiance and the oath of office. According to the "First Schedule" section of the Constitution of Barbados, the official Oath of office for the Prime Minister, Ministers of Parliament, and Parliamentary Secretaries of Barbados is as follows:

I, _________________________, being appointed (Prime Minister/Minister/Parliamentary Secretary), do swear that I will do the best of my judgement, at all times when so required, freely give my counsel and advice to the Governor General (or any other person for the time being lawfully performing the functions of that office) for the good management of the public affairs of Barbados, and I do further swear that I will not on any account, at any time whatsoever, disclose the counsel, advice, opinion or vote of any particular Minister or Parliamentary Secretary and that I will not, except with the authority of the Cabinet and to such extent as may be required for the good management of the affairs of Barbados, directly or indirectly reveal the business or proceedings of the Cabinet or the nature or contents of any documents communicated to me as (Prime Minister/Minister/Parliamentary Secretary) or any matter coming to my knowledge in my capacity as such and that in all things I will be a true and faithful (Prime Minister/Minister/Parliamentary Secretary), so Help me God.

Next election

The Constitution of Barbados reads, in part:

  • 61(3) "...Parliament, unless sooner dissolved, shall continue for five years from the date of its first sitting after any dissolution and shall then stand dissolved."
  • 62(1) "After every dissolution of Parliament the Governor General shall issue writs for a general election of members of appointment the House of Assembly returnable within ninety days from that dissolution."[2]

The previous Parliament first sat on 6 March 2013, and was constitutionally dissolved on 6 March 2018. The next election is constitutionally required to be held in 2023 at the latest.

Latest elections
Summary of the 24 May 2018 Barbados House of Assembly election results
Party Votes % +/– Seats +/–
Barbados Labour Party111,96874.58+26.3530+16
Democratic Labour Party33,98522.64–28.670–16
Solutions Barbados4,1882.79–0New
United Progressive Party1,9651.31–0New
Coalition of United Parties5800.39+0.2800
Independents1,0590.71+0.3500
Total150,141100–300
Registered voters/turnout255,83360.00–2.02––
Source: Caribbean Elections

With a single party elected to all 30 seats, Bishop Joseph Atherley chose to become an independent politician and take the role of official Leader of the Opposition.[1][3]

Previous elections
Main article: Elections in Barbados

In previous elections the National Democratic Party (NDP), the Barbados National Party (BNP), the Conservatives and Independents also won seats besides the two big parties - the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). The DLP had been in opposition since 6 September 1994. Fourteen years later when they won a surprise victory of 20 seats to 10 on 15 January 2008, DLP Leader David Thompson was sworn in as the 6th Prime Minister of Barbados. Freundel Stuart was sworn in on 23 October 2010 because of the death of the Prime Minister Thompson, who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2010. Two months later in May 2010 he became ill when the then Acting Prime Minister Freundel Stuart had started, and five months later he was sworn in on 23 October 2010 as the 7th Prime Minister of Barbados. On 23 February 2013 he was sworn in as the 7th Prime Minister of Barbados by obtaining sixteen out of thirty seats. The general elections of 21 February 2013 were one of the closest election Barbados has ever seen.

Election   BLP     DLP    NDP    BNP   Conservatives Independents
24 May 2018 30
21 February 201314 16
15 January 200810 20
21 May 2003 237
20 January 1999 262
6 September 1994 1981
21 January 199110 18
28 May 19863 24
18 June 1981 1710
2 September 1976 177
9 September 19716 18
3 November 19668 142
4 December 19615 1441
6 December 1956 15432
13 December 1951 1011
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See also

References
  1. "Bishop Atherley now Leader of the Opposition | Barbados Advocate". www.barbadosadvocate.com. 2 June 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  2. "Constitution of Barbados" (PDF). Government of Barbados. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  3. "Atherley sworn in as Opposition Leader". www.nationnews.com. 1 June 2018.
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