On The Way To The Republic: Barbados

21th of October, 2021

By Cemre Türkmen

Barbados, which passed to the Republican administration, announced its first elected president. Dame
Sandra Mason was elected to historic role today by members of the Caribbean nation's Lower House
and Upper House of Parliament.

In September 2020, the government of Barbados announced that by November 20201 at the latest, the
country would officially end its current status and become a republic. Barbadian Prime Minister Mia
Mottley announced, in May 2021, the establishment of a Republican Status Transition Advisory
Committee (RSTAC) with the mandate to plan and manage the transition of Barbados from a
constitutional monarchy to a republic by 30 November 2021. In defending the government's position
on the development, the Prime Minister stated that, “The time has come to fully leave our colonial past
behind. Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state” and that, “This is the ultimate statement of
confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving. Hence, Barbados will take the next
logical step toward full sovereignty and become a republic by the time we celebrate our 55th
anniversary of independence.” Further, the Prime Minister announced that, immediately after the
transition, Barbados would embark on the process of drafting a new constitution under the leadership
of the Attorney General.

In order to better understand the development of events, it is useful to look at the past of Barbados.

On November 30, 1966, Barbados gained its independence and adopted the Westminster
parliamentary system of government. In the post-independence period, the two dominant political
parties, the "Barbados Labor Party" and the "Democratic Labor Party", operated together with the
Governor-General as the representative of the British monarch with privileged powers. For half a
century, the model has experienced relative stability and little change in the constitutional fabric of the
state. Indeed, the most notable changes were in 1974, but they did not change existing parliamentary
regulations.

Against the backdrop of growing political and socio-economic radicalism, black power movements in
the English-speaking Caribbean, and the transition of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago to republics,
the Barbados Labor Party administration appointed a Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) in
1977 to consider changes to the Barbados Constitution. . In particular, the commission was accused of
proposing changes that would strengthen the democratic character of the state by providing
“constitutional protection to multi-party parliamentary democracy that could effectively prevent its
destruction.” At the time, it was clear that the governing elite did not expect any deviation from the
accepted Westminster model of government.

In its 1979 report, the Commission noted that racism in the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom's
entry into the European Economic Community, Barbadians' increasing affinity to Africa and their
opposition to “an increasingly remote, hereditary, non-Barbadian monarch” informed the need to
examine the appropriate constitutional form for the country.

The Commission therefore concluded that the constitutional monarchy had worked well for Barbados
and rejected the argument that the repeal of the Barbados constitution, with a ceremonial president
replacing the Governor-General, would in fact radically change current political practices. Until "we
already have our own man at the top". The CRC also argued that, contrary to popular opinion, the
political reality is that the Governor-General operates under the direction of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet, and not at the behest of the monarch. Equally important were regional considerations: the
CRC noted that given the times that some Caribbean countries were experiencing, there were
legitimate concerns that to embark upon momentous constitutional change would invite potential
instability in the body political of the country.

Until 1996, another Constitutional Review Commission was appointed, almost unchanged from the
previous commission, and no notable effort was made to engage in constitutional restructuring. The
1998 CRC report diverged from the 1979 report: its most important recommendation was that
Barbados be a parliamentary republic with a non-executive president, elected by an electoral board of
bicameral legislatures.

Between 1998 and 2021, there was no further constitutional development, although the Owen Arthur
administration (1994-2008) drafted a parliamentary republican constitution in 2004 to repeal and
replace the 1966 constitution. At the time, the administration had promised a referendum on the
Barbadian President. The government passed the Referendum Law in 2005, but that referendum never
took place.

In September 2020, it was announced to the public in accordance with what will be done and the
targets for 2021 were conveyed. There were two stages of being a republic: the first was to establish
the republic, and the second was to prepare a comprehensive constitution. The second phase is aimed
to be carried out within 1 year after November 2021. The first step is almost done. Dame Sandre
Mason, the 72-year-old unanimously elected judge and former ambassador, is the new president. She
will be the first president in the 55th year of Barbados' independence.

References:
1- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/21/barbados-elects-first-president-as-island-
drops-queen-as-head-of-state
2- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-58993728
3- https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-59000247
4- https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-54178253
5- https://www.thenational.scot/news/19661398.barbados-just-appointed-first-president-
becomes-republic/
6- https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados