On The Way To The Republic: Barbados

Barbados, which passed to the Republican administration, announced its first elected president. Dame Sandra Mason was elected to a 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 2021 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.