Mia Mottley announces elections ahead of due date, Barbados goes into polls on 19 Jan

Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced a sudden election for Monday, January 19 2020, vowing that Barbados would not enter 2022 as a divided nation.

"I implore each and every one of you to use your democratic right," Motley said, adding that she had persuaded President Sandra Mason to establish January 3 as Nomination Day.

Mottley, who led the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to a resounding sweep of all 30 seats in Parliament on May 24, 2018, is now seeking a fresh mandate.

Mottley, the first woman to lead a government in Barbados, said in a 37-minute radio and television broadcast that she had observed: "the silly season", defining how Barbadians viewed the island's future socio-economic development at a time when it was also dealing with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

"We should not go into 2022 as a divided society," she added, adding that "we could wallow in the grandeur of a 29-1 Parliament and ride COVID out for the next 18 months if I were just motivated by the desire to live."

"Defeating COVID would be a stepping stone; surviving it would be the true test; if I were only motivated by the interests of the Barbados Labour Party, I would declare that we would be emerging, if not already emerging, from the worst of the COVID pandemic by June 2023. But now, my friends, is the time for me to be concerned," added Mottley.

She said she is concerned that if Barbados start 2022 as a divided nation, it will stifle and impede its own progress.

"What we do now will have a long-term impact on this country."

She said she is willing to accept the risk because they'd rather leave Barbados on the road to recovery than the struggle for the next 18 months as a divided country, unable to take advantage of the potential presented by the new COVID environment."