It’s Nomination Day in Barbados

Wed, February 06, 2013 - 5:13 AM

Today is Nomination Day in Barbados.

Sixty-seven candidates are expected to hand in their nomination papers as part of the formal process leading up to the general election scheduled for February 21.

While the two major parties - the Democratic Labour Party and the Barbados Labour Party - are both expected to field a full slate of 30 candidates each, seven independent candidates are also filing papers in a bid to have their names on the ballots for the coming poll.

The 67 prospective nominees have already paid in their deposits to the Treasury and will today complete all the paper work required by the Electoral & Boundaries Commission to signal their acceptance as candidates.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart last week Tuesday announced the dates for today’s nomination day and the polling day after weeks of anxious anticipation as to when Barbadians would be required to choose a new government. Campaigning for the poll, which had already been started some months earlier, has subsequently intensified with both of the main parties holding mass meetings at key locations.

For today’s process at various centres across the island, there will be a number of nominations which will pit some newcomers to the polls against each other.

In the St James North constituency, the DLP’s Harry Husbands and the BLP’s Edmund Hinkson will be filing papers at the Gordon Greenidge Primary School; in St Michael South East, DLP candidate Patrick Tannis will be up against the BLP’s Santia Bradshaw; while in Christ Church West verla Depeiza of the DLP will face-off against Dr Maria Agard of the BLP. For Depeiza this will be a unique event as her brother, Francis, will be making his second attempt to win the St Michael North seat. They will have the unique distinction of being siblings to contest a general election here for the first time in many years.

For this general election there will be five new candidates running on the DLP ticket while the BLP will be fielding 11 and there will be four independents. On this occasion the People’s Empowerment Party has opted not to contest the poll.

The DLP’s new faces are: Dr Rolerick Hinds, Dennis Holder, Husbands, Jepter Ince and Tannis while the BLP will have Wilfred Abrahams, Agard, Bradshaw, Margo Durant-Callendar, Ian Gooding-Edghill, Hinkson, Arthur Holder, Sandra Husbands, Gregory Nicholls, Dwight Sunderland and Indar Weir.

As has been the case in the past, the nomination process is expected to take on a carnival-like atmosphere in some constituencies as candidates get supporters to come out in their numbers to offer support. Most nominations are scheduled to take place between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. while the centres are expected to be closed by 3 p.m. [ES]