Mottley leads BLP islandwide push, gears up for February polls

Prime Minister Mia Mottley has signalled that she will personally lead her party’s campaign effort ahead of the February 11 general election, as all 30 Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidates completed their nomination deposits on Thursday.

She declined to speak to reporters as the candidates paid their mandatory $250 deposits at the Treasury in the National Housing Corporation building on Country Road, St Michael.

But in a brief exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY, she said her own campaign in St Michael North East would remain sharply focused on ground engagement, even as her leadership responsibilities require her to prioritise party-wide mobilisation.

She said: “My campaign team has to do that for me because I have to be all over the island. So I am totally, totally grateful to my campaign team. I met with them the last few weeks. But they know that at this time I’m stretching from St Lucy to St Philip, from St John to St James.”

What is typically a routine administrative exercise unfolded in a charged political atmosphere, as a large crowd dressed in red gathered outside the building amid sustained chanting and visible fanfare. The prime minister’s presence alongside her candidates reinforced her hands-on approach to driving the party’s campaign, even as she balances leadership of the national effort with her own constituency contest.

After the deposits were paid, Barbados Labour Party General Secretary Jerome Walcott said the party was entering the campaign confident in its performance since forming the government in 2018.

“We are excited. We have done the hard work. We’ve kept the vast majority of our promises that we made to Barbados back in 2018,” he said.

Describing the last term as a period marked by adversity, Walcott added: “It is like a journey. We’ve had some difficulties. We’ve had hurricanes and we’ve had COVID and we have worked hard.”

He framed the election as a test of leadership at a time of global uncertainty.

“We recognise now in the global situation that there are issues and this is a time when this country needs strong leadership, leadership that is committed, leadership that is familiar with the issues, and this is not time to take chances,” he said.

Walcott revealed that the party’s formal campaign rollout would follow shortly.

“We are indeed ready. We are going to be rolling out our campaign in the next few days. This week we will be focusing on meeting certain deadlines that are required by the Electoral Boundaries Commission and thereafter you will hear us defending a record, a proud record, and giving you further on the exciting plans we have for Barbados,” he said.

As campaigning intensified, Walcott also urged vigilance on public health matters.

“At this time, I think you should all be aware that there are a number of respiratory viruses circulating, and I’m going to implore Barbadians to sanitise and use their masks when they come to meetings and especially during voting,” he said. “Wear your mask and sanitise.” (SZB)