The 2021 Barbadian presidential election was held on 20 October 2021 to choose the first

president of Barbados President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, an office established as part of Barbados becoming a republic.

Sandra Mason Dame Sandra Prunella Mason (born 17 January 1949) is a Barbadian politician, lawyer, and diplomat who is serving as the first president of Barbados since 2021. She was previously the eighth and final governor-general of Barbados from 2018 to 2 ...

, the incumbent

governor-general of Barbados The governor-general of Barbados was the representative of the Barbadian monarch from independence in 1966 until the establishment of a republic in 2021. Under the government's Table of Precedence for Barbados, the governor-general of Barbado ...

, was elected president, and she replaced

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

when she was sworn in on 30 November 2021.

Electoral system

The president is elected indirectly by the

Parliament of Barbados The Parliament of Barbados is the national legislature of Barbados. It is accorded parliamentary sovereignty, legislative supremacy by Chapter V of the Constitution of Barbados.#refConstitution, Constitution, Chapter V, Part 1; Section 35 The P ...

.Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 2021 – Parliament of Barbados
/ref> The

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and the

leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

jointly nominate a consensus candidate 90 days before the incumbent's term is due to expire, who is then elected in a

walkover John Baxter Taylor and William Robbins (athlete)">William Robbins to refuse to race in protest. A walkover, also W.O. or w/o (originally two words: "walk over"), is awarded to the opposing team/player, etc., if there are no other players avail ...

without a vote unless any MP lodges their objection. If an objection is lodged, the joint sitting is suspended and the two Houses of Parliament, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

, meet separately and each vote on accepting or rejecting the nominee. A

two-thirds majority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fund ...

of valid votes in each house separately is then required to elect a candidate on all rounds of balloting. If no consensus candidate is nominated by the 60th day before the end of the incumbent's term, the election is opened to other candidates. To gain

ballot access Ballot access is rules and procedures regulating the right to candidacy, the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots in elections in the United States. The jurisprudence o ...

in such an open election, a candidate must be nominated either by the prime minister, the leader of the Opposition, or at least ten members of the House of Assembly. The requirement for a two-thirds majority of valid votes in each house separately also applies in an open election; this means that if only one candidate has been nominated, the voting system is the same as when a consensus candidate has been objected to.

Candidate

, the incumbent

, was the only candidate for the office; she was nominated jointly by the prime minister,

Mia Mottley Mia "Ma" Amor Mottley, (born 1 October 1965) is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as the eighth prime minister of Barbados since 2018 and as Leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the first woman to h ...

, and the leader of the opposition, Bishop Joseph Atherley. Mason would have been deemed elected without a vote if there had been no objections to her candidacy. However, Senator Caswell Franklyn formally objected, saying that the electors had not been notified of the election rules in advance, and claiming that the rules were made up without constitutional basis and that the ballot didn't allow a place to vote 'no'. Due to this objection, the joint sitting was suspended and each chamber of parliament proceeded to hold a separate vote on Mason's nomination. The House of Assembly's session was attended by 28 out of 30 members with William Duguid and George Payne being absent, while the Senate's session was attended by 20 out of 21 members with Lucille Moe being absent. In both Assembly and Senate, the respective presidents – Arthur Holder and Reginald Farley – abstained from voting. Prime Minister Mottley said that the new president would promote "unity of purpose" for Barbados. Mason was sworn in on 30 November, which was the 55th anniversary of Barbadian independence.

References

{{reflist

2021 in Barbados Elections in Barbados Republicanism in Barbados October 2021 in North America Single-candidate elections Electoral colleges