PM Mottley had said the snap elections is not to hold on to power but to help promote unity in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, which has heavily hit the country’s tourism-focused economy.

Mottley, whose Barbados Labor Party controls 29 of the legislature’s 30 seats, in a campaign speech in the community of Pie Corner on the northeast end of the island on Monday, January 17, 2022, made little mention of the pandemic, focusing instead on public works carried out under her party and berating rivals’ lack of leadership.

PM Mia A. Mottley had said the snap elections is not to hold on to power but to help promote unity in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, which has heavily hit the country’s tourism-focused economy.

Snap elections ‘alarming’- Opposition

Verla De Peiza of the opposition Democratic Labor Party has called the snap election – called a year and a half before the law requires – “alarming to our democracy” and raised questions about the public health risks of the vote and limitations on suffrage of those infected with COVID-19.

Some 5,000 people of a population just under 300,000 were in isolation after being infected with coronavirus, according to official figures.

Mottley on Monday said the opposition had filed a court injunction seeking to stop the election.

The lawsuit alleges that the exclusion of people quarantined due to the coronavirus is a violation of voting rights, according to local media reports.

Meanwhile, Virgin Islands News Online will be among the first to provide the results of the general elections.