Barbados elects its first president and becomes a republic

Mrs. Sandra Mason – Elected almost unanimously by Parliament, only one member refused to vote. Mason is 72 years old and was also the first woman to serve as a judge on the Court of Appeals on a Caribbean island. Since 2018, he has served as Governor General, and is an established figure in the community. “Ms. Sandra was and remains an ideal daughter of the earth,” Prime Minister Mia Motley was quoted by Barbados Today as saying. “It will be a mobilizing force and a uniting force to allow us to fight battles that we have not yet had to fight in independent Barbados,” continues the Prime Minister. Mrs. Sandra Mason’s election is also a blow to misogyny. I know a lot. Well, the journey it took for women to get to a position that they couldn’t hold before,” Motley said.

independence Barbados decided to secede from the British monarchy in September 2020, to join a broader debate against the wounds of colonialism. At the time, Mason had advocated for the island’s independence”Barbadians want a Barbadian president. This is the latest declaration of confidence in who we are and what we can achieve,” the incoming president’s words were.

It is not the first country to abandon the Queen Guyana did so in 1970, four years after gaining independence from Great Britain. Then Trinidad and Tobago in 1976, followed by Dominica two years later. It is not only the first, but it may not be the last. The move toward independence has in fact amplified a deep debate in Jamaica examining the opportunity to move away from the monarchy.