Barbados Elects First President

The island of Barbados elected its first president today as they transition towards becoming a republic. Dame Sandra Mason secured two-thirds of the votes in the Barbadian Parliament. In September 2020 Mason had said in a speech “the time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind.” That same month Barbados announced they would become a republic, a process that involves removing the Queen as head of state. According to Reuters News, Prime Minister Mia Motley characterized Mason’s win today as a seminal moment in Barbadian history. Barbados officials have said their goal is to complete the process of becoming a republic before the country’s fifty-fifth anniversary.