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Events in the year 2018 in Barbados .
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Events in the year 2018 in Barbados .
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region next to North America and north of South America, and is the most easterly of the Caribbean islands. It lies on the boundary of the South American and Caribbean plates. Its capital and largest city is Bridgetown.
Owen Seymour Arthur was a Barbadian politician who served as the fifth prime minister of Barbados from 6 September 1994 to 15 January 2008. He is the longest-serving Barbadian prime minister to date. He also served as Leader of the Opposition from 1 August 1993 to 6 September 1994 and from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013.
The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), colloquially known as the "Bees", is a social democratic political party in Barbados established in 1938. It has been in power in 1954–1961, 1976–1986, 1994–2008, and 2018–present. The BLP has been the governing party of Barbados since 2018.
The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is a public radio and television broadcaster, located in The Pine, St. Michael in Barbados. It was founded in 1963 as Radio Barbados. The CBC falls under the ministry and jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Office.
The House of Assembly of Barbados is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Barbados. It has 30 Members of Parliament (MPs), who are directly elected in single member constituencies using the simple-majority system for a term of five years. The House of Assembly sits roughly 40–45 days a year and is presided over by a Speaker.
The Cabinet are individuals of Barbados which execute the duties of the Government of Barbados. Under a Parliamentary republic, these powers are vested nominally by the President of Barbados, but are exercised in practice by a Cabinet of Ministers, presided over by the Prime Minister of Barbados. The Prime Minister is formally appointed by the President: the President must appoint, as Prime Minister, someone who can control a majority of votes in the House of Assembly. In practice, this is normally the leader of the largest political party or coalition in the house. When there is no clear majority, the president assumers the role of arbitrator and opens negotiations with the leaders of the various political parties, in the hope of finding someone whom a majority will accept as Prime Minister. In the event of that failing to take place, the President must dissolve the House of Assembly and call an early election.
On 30 November 2021, Barbados transitioned from a parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the hereditary monarch of Barbados to a parliamentary republic with a ceremonial indirectly elected president as head of state. The prime minister remained head of government while the last governor-general, Dame Sandra Mason, was elected as the country's first president on 20 October 2021, and took office on 30 November 2021.
Mia Amor Mottley, is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as the eighth prime minister of Barbados since 2018 and as Leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the first woman to hold either position. She is also Barbados' first prime minister under its republican system, following constitutional changes she introduced that abolished the country's constitutional monarchy.
Dale Dermot Marshall SC is the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs in Barbados.
The historical ties between the governments of Barbados and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) are long and complex, including settlement, post-colonialism and modern bilateral relations. The two countries are related through common history spanning 339 years (1627–1966). Since the Barbadian date of political independence, these nations continue to share ties through the Commonwealth of Nations. Until becoming a Commonwealth republic in 2021, Barbados also shared the same Head of State, with Queen Elizabeth II as their Monarch.
Foreign relations exist between Australia and Barbados. Neither country has a resident ambassador. The regional Australian High Commissioner to Barbados is accredited from Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. Barbados is represented in Australia through its High Commission in Ottawa, (Canada). Barbados maintains an honorary consul and a tourist office in Australia. Barbados and Australia established diplomatic relations on 7 January 1974. Both countries are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and comprised as former parts of the British Empire.
Freundel Jerome Stuart, OR, PC, SC is a Barbadian politician who served as Prime Minister of Barbados and the leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013; and from 21 February 2013 to 25 May 2018. He succeeded David Thompson, who had died in office on 23 October 2010 from pancreatic cancer.
Dame Sandra Prunella Mason is a Barbadian politician, lawyer, and diplomat who is serving as the first president of Barbados since 2021. She was previously the eighth and final governor-general of Barbados from 2018 to 2021, the second woman to hold the office. On 20 October 2021, Mason was elected by the Parliament of Barbados to become the country's first president, and took office on 30 November 2021, when Barbados ceased to be a constitutional monarchy and became a republic.
General elections were held in Barbados on 24 May 2018. The result was a landslide victory for the opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP), which won all 30 seats in the House of Assembly, resulting in BLP leader Mia Mottley becoming the country's first female Prime Minister. The BLP's victory was the first time a party had won every seat in the House of Assembly. Previously, the most one-sided result for a Barbadian election had been in 1999, when the BLP won 26 of the 28 seats. The BLP's 73.5 percent vote share was also the highest on record.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Barbados was a part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The outbreak was identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019, declared to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020, and recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The case fatality rate for COVID-19 has been much lower than for other coronavirus respiratory infections such as SARS and MERS, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.
A by-election was held in the Barbadian constituency of St George North on November 11, 2020 following the resignation of incumbent BLP Member of Parliament Gline Clarke, who has represented the constituency for the past 26 years, to accept the post of Barbados High Commissioner to Canada. It was the first election to take place since Prime Minister Mia Mottley's governing Barbados Labour Party won all seats in the House of Assembly in the 2018 Barbadian general election.
General elections were held in Barbados on 19 January 2022 to elect the 30 members of the House of Assembly. The ruling Barbados Labour Party won all 30 seats for the second consecutive election.
The following lists events that happened during 2022 in the Caribbean.
The Leader of the Opposition of Barbados is the Member of Parliament who leads the Official Opposition in the Barbados Parliament. The Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the largest political party in the House of Assembly of Barbados that is not in government.
