St James North up for grabs

A political contest is set to intensify in St James North after Edmund Hinkson, the long-serving Member of Parliament, confirmed his resignation takes effect on Friday.

Hinkson, whose departure was announced in an official letter to Speaker of the House of Assembly Arthur Holder and read aloud in the Chamber on Tuesday morning, formally notified Parliament: “In accordance with Section 45, Subsection 1, Subsection B of the Constitution of Barbados, I hereby give notice that I shall resign from the Parliament of Barbados as member for the constituency of St James North effective Friday April 25, 2025 at 10 a.m. Please be accordingly guided.”

The move sets the stage for what is expected to be the second by-election since the Mia Mottley administration’s landslide 30-0 victory over the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in 2018. St James North, which encompasses parts of St Peter including Ashton Hall Road, Farm Road, Highway 1 and up to Ronald Mapp Highway, has more than 7 000 registered voters. According to the Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s (EBC) 2018 report, 7 644 voters were registered in the constituency, with a 58 per cent turnout that year. The EBC’s report on the January 2022 general election has not yet been published.

Within hours of Hinkson’s announcement, the opposition was getting itself ready for the vote ahead. Outside a closed-door meeting at the DLP’s George Street headquarters on Tuesday evening, DLP President and Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne confirmed the party had officially nominated human rights advocate and University of the West Indies philosophy lecturer Felicia Dujon as its candidate.

“This is something that I first raised in Parliament at the end of last year so that we knew this was coming,” Thorne said. “We are not prophets so we could not say what the precise day would have been. We still can’t say what the precise day will be because I think the prime minister has about three months within which to call the election, but we want to demonstrate our own readiness to ourselves. This is essentially to mobilise the party.”

He added: “We’re not going to let 24 hours pass before we mobilise our members to go forward as one party in unity to fight this battle, and that’s why we’re here this evening.”

Dujon, who has a background in advocacy and public policy, said she was humbled by the nomination.

“I’m honoured and excited to be a representative of the Democratic Labour Party. I’ve always been honoured to be in the presence of my colleagues as well as my comrades, and the support that they have provided not only for the party but for citizens of this country,” she said. “I have always been ready to defend the rights of all citizens of Barbados.”

The DLP’s swift announcement comes amid widespread expectation that the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) would put forward Senator Chad Blackman as Hinkson’s successor in the traditionally BLP-leaning constituency.

Hinkson had indicated as early as December last year that he was passing the baton to Senator Blackman, who was brought back from a diplomatic posting to serve as economic affairs minister following a Cabinet reshuffle in January 2024. Two months ago, he was appointed Minister of Educational Transformation.

While the BLP had yet to issue an official statement confirming Senator Blackman’s candidacy at the time of publication, party sources confirmed his selection.

No date has yet been announced for the by-election, but with both parties moving rapidly to name their candidates, the battle for St James North, a likely barometer of the Mia Mottley administration in what is considered a safe seat for the BLP, is now fully underway.

Two years after the BLP captured the government in 2018, longstanding St George North MP Gline Clarke announced he was resigning from the stronghold, paving the way for the election of trade unionist Toni Moore on November 11, 2020.
(LG/IMC1)