Bradshaw and Hinkson expected big wins

Victory came as no surprise to the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) duo of Santia Bradshaw and Edmund Hinkson.

Both of them expected to emerge victorious in yesterday’s general elections and they did so in spectacular fashion by whipping their respective challengers.

In St Michael South East, Bradshaw completed a three-peat by amassing 2786 votes, way more than her nearest competitor Pedro Shepherd of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) who received 699 votes, with the Alliance Party for Progress’ (APP) Patrick Tannis getting 180 votes.

Flanked by supporters, Bradshaw told members of the media her victory was no surprise.

“I expected to win, I expected to get the support and it is a really good feeling to see my entire constituency rally around me… All of the blocks, all of the communities have come together in a way that has been unprecedented.

“I think that it is now clear that St Michael South East now belongs to the BLP and that I intend to keep and preserve for as long as I possibly can,” Bradshaw said.

She said the lone disappointment was the fact that her father Delisle Bradshaw was not there in person to celebrate with her as he was at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she said he was there with her “in spirit”.

Hinkson was similarly dominant in St James North, receiving 2536 votes to easily defeat the DLP’s Charles Worrell who got 608 votes.

And while he thanked his constituents for having confidence in him and his wife and two children for their support, he said the numbers had suggested he would be returned as Member of Parliament for the constituency.

“It is something that is humbling to present yourself as a candidate in an election and to ask people to account for your records and your service over the last nine years and recommit to having confidence in me going forward to be the political leader in the constituency,” Hinkson said.

“But the results essentially are what I expected. I deal all the time with percentages, in terms of numbers, and by my rough calculations, it seemed as if the percentage of votes that I won by was about 80 per cent. Last time it was just under 84 [per cent] and that quite frankly is bang on to what I expected.”

Over in Christ Church West, the BLP’s Dr William Duguid was humble after being declared the winner.

He amassed 2473 votes to soundly whip Andrew Cave of the DLP who received just 633 votes.

Dr Duguid said the fact that the BLP had once again won all 30 seats showed the confidence Barbadians had in the Mia Mottley led party.

He said their actions showed that they appreciated what the BLP was doing.

“I would like to thank my wife and my daughter for loaning me yet again to the people of Christ Church West and by extension to the people of Barbados. I am humbled that they have yet again reposed their confidence in me and they can rest assured that I will work tirelessly every single day to be able to give the best I can to the people of Christ Church West and by extension the people of Barbados.

“This is obviously another historic win not only for Christ Church West but for Barbados and the party and obviously the people of Barbados have reposed significant confidence in Mia Amor Mottley and the BLP and we will quickly get back to work to do the best we can for the people of Barbados,” Dr Duguid assured.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb