Dame Sandra Mason Is First President-Elect

October 21, 2021

(Barbados Government Information Service Press Release) As Barbados prepares to transition to a republic in a few weeks, Dame Sandra Mason has been announced as the island’s first President-elect.

This announcement came today from Speaker of the House of Assembly, Arthur Holder, as he read the Instrument of Election of President, at a joint meeting of both Houses of Parliament at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

The joint meeting was earlier suspended, because of an objection, and the members reconvened in their respective House, where they voted for Dame Sandra.

In congratulating Dame Sandra, who received the necessary two-thirds majority vote in the Houses of Parliament, Prime Minister said the election of a President “is a seminal moment” in the country’s journey.

Ms. Mottley continued: “We look forward, therefore, to December 1, 2021. But we do so confident that we have just elected from among us a woman who is uniquely and passionately Barbadian; does not pretend to be anything else; reflects the values of who we are; [and] has been able, in spite of her achievement of many firsts, to maintain a humility that is so admired by our people.

Staff Writer, CARICOM October 21, 2021