Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley made a special announcement during the nomination for the candidate for The City of Bridgetown this evening, where senior defense attorney Michael Lashley was selected unopposed to represent that constituency.

With his nomination, the ruling BLP selected its slate of candidates for all 30 ridings.

The House of Assembly will be dissolved by day after tomorrow, formally triggering the election campaign, with Nomination Day set for the 27th of this month.

Voting is being called approximately 12 months ahead of the constitutional deadline, viewers may recall in October she stated elections are not officially due (at that point) for another 15 months. In 2013 and 2018, as then Opposition, both she and Arthur Holder (former Speaker of the House) suggested Barbados should have a regularised poll date, not unlike USA…

This as Ralph Thorne – Leader of the Opposition claims the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is prepared for electioneering, after the PM confirmed long speculation how Barbadians would go to the polls in a little over 3 weeks.

The Opposition Leader suggested if Bajans felt starved, dissatisfied or disappointed, he also agreed.

In addition to the traditional BLP and DLP (which actually splintered away from the ruling Barbados Labour Party in 1961), there’s also the United Progressive Party, the New National Party, Friends of Democracy in addition to the Conservative Barbados Leadership Party hoping to make a mark in the tightly knit electorate who seldom stray in their dual decisions, even for Independent candidates.