Vote Buying on the Rise in Barbados

Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart said he witnessed it.

The electoral system is one which Barbadians have been proud of until recent general elections.  The cries have been getting louder and louder from the public that votes have been bought on election day. Yes we have had political candidates in the past wooing the public with “corn beef and biscuits” at the village shop but that is where it ended. How big is the problem of vote buying in Barbados?

We have a situation in Barbados where both political parties appear to be guilty of the practice of throwing cash and items around to garner support. Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart could hardly post general election to inform the public he witnessed vote buying on election day. His revelation was followed by a similar statement from an equally indignant Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite after his swearing in session at Government House.  Today in the news general secretary of the Democratic Labour Party George Pilgrim stated he had advised members of the public who witnessed vote buying on election day to call the police. One wonders if the Prime Minister called the police when he saw what he saw.

Members of the BU family who were around in 2008 may recall similar concerns raised about vote buying. BU actually posted a blog – Activities In The Farm On Election Day. What is unfathomable is that with all the cash, iPods,watches, herb that was reported to have been distributed on election day, there was only ONE arrest made by the police.

16 to 14 Result in Barbados General Election

Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart

Tonight is shaping up to be a victory for the people and for Barbados. I am pleasantly surprised and quietly proud. We have defied all polls, expectations and political/election stereotypes. BU has been a great conduit for it to begin. Let us move ever closer towards that much needed tipping point and let’s hope that those who lead us wake up and realise that this is a wake call to do better for all of us

– Observing(…)

A result which the most ardent of DLP and BLP supporter did not predict. Barbadians have witnessed a 16:14 result in favour of the Democratic Labour Party. The result also blew the Wickham CADRES model to smithereens, made all the more interesting that Wickham performed two polls leading up to the general election. BUs one regret is that even as the country faces unprecedented challenges – posed by the global economic landscape – we have a parliament which will struggle to do business given the result.

• See Barbados Today report of results

Good Luck at the Polls Barbadians and Remember the ‘One Lesson’

Submitted by Peter Brathwaite

Good luck Barbadians

Fellow Barbadians,

We go to the polls this Thursday. Emotion, anticipation and excitement fill the air (along with the ‘noise’ of the various political parties canvassing late into the night). Posters and flyers (and big as shite billboards) blanket our landscape (yet no one dared put their respective flyers/posters on the fancy pedestrian over-pass out by CBC last time I saw).

Both parties have published their manifestos. Of particular interest to some, if not most of us, will be the proposed economic policies of both parties. During the analysis of same, I ask that each and every one of you stop, hold strain and consider the words of Henry Hazlitt. Journalist, economist, philosopher, critic and author of the easy to read: Economics In One Lesson.

The “One Lesson” is stated in Part One of the book: