2026 Barbadian general election
General elections are scheduled to be held in Barbados on 11 February 2026 to elect the 30 members of the House of Assembly. Parliament was dissolved on 19 January and nomination day was on 27 January.
Background
According to the Constitution of Barbados, the Parliament shall stand dissolved no later than every five years from the first sitting of Parliament. The previous general elections were held on 19 January 2022, and the first sitting of the new session of Parliament was held on the 4 February 2022. After the dissolution of Parliament, the President of Barbados must issue a writ for a general election of members to the House of Assembly and for appointment of Senators to the Senate within 90 days.On 17 January 2026, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley called for a new general election to be held less than a month away on 11 February of the same year.
Democratic Labour Party leader and leader of the opposition Ralph Thorne made several claims throughout the election campaign of the Barbados Labour Party -led government "interfering" with the voter list and the work of the Electoral and Boundaries Commision, disenfranchising potential electors and called for a delay of the election. Mottley in response refuted these claims and invited authorities from the Caribbean Community and Commonwealth of Nations to act as official election observers. She stated this decision was made
in a bid to “protect the reputation of Barbados.”
Candidate affiliation
Ten political parties nominated candidates for this election. Including six independents, there were a total of 96 candidates.The slate of potential electors vying disclosed their affiliation under eight main political affiliations:
- The Barbados Labour Party - the previous ruling party administration,
- The Democratic Labour Party,
- Reform Barbados,
- Solutions Barbados,
- Friends of Democracy,
- Barbados Sovereignty Party,
- Bajan Free Party and,
- The People’s Coalition for Progress,