BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — The main opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) was heading towards a landslide victory in the May 24 general election as the counting of ballots continued here more than eight hours after the polls closed.
Preliminary figures showed that the BLP was ahead of the incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in all 30 constituencies as Mia Mottley moved closer to becoming the first woman to head a government in this Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
The figures show that Prime Minister Freundel Stuart is trailing new comer Kirk Humphrey in the St Michael South constituency and that most of his Cabinet colleagues were also facing the possibility of not returning to the Parliament.
The DLP had been in power for the past 10 years and Stuart, who had succeeded the late David Thompson as prime minister when he died in October 2010, had successfully won the 2013 poll by a slender two seat margin.
The counting of the ballots had been held up for several hours because of “certain irregularities”.
In a statement, the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) , said the Chief Electoral Officer was mandated by a court order late Thursday to add 18 people to the Register of Electors.
“Preparing the Addendum to facilitate this process and distributing the registers to various polling stations in several constituencies resulted in a delay in the close of poll in these constituencies.
“The vehicles and drivers recruited for the delivery of the Ballot Boxes containing ballots from the early poll of Thursday, May 17, had to be redirected to deliver the Addendum, resulting in an even further delay in the delivery of those boxes.
“The Electoral and Boundaries Commission wishes to assure the public that all necessary procedures were followed to protect the integrity of the poll.”
An estimated 255, 654 voters were eligible to cast ballots in the general election.
