The prime minister, usually the leader of the largest party in Parliament, heads the government. Mia Mottley became prime minister after her party, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), defeated a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) government in the 2018 polls. Mottley remained in office after the BLP won snap elections in 2022.

The British monarch was the head of state, represented by a governor-general, until Barbados became a republic in 2021. Also in 2021, former governor-general Sandra Mason began serving a four-year term as president after she was appointed by the prime minister and approved by Parliament.

Members of the 30-seat House of Assembly, the lower house, are directly elected for five-year terms. The upper house, the Senate, is comprised of 21 members appointed by the president: 12 are chosen by the prime minister, 2 are nominated on the advice of the opposition, and 7 are chosen by the president. Senators serve five-year terms.

The BLP won 69 percent of the vote and all 30 lower-house seats in the snap January 2022 elections. The DLP won 27 percent of the vote. While the polls were credible, turnout stood at a record low at 41.7 percent. Following the elections, President Mason appointed nine independent senators instead of the typical seven, given the absence of a formal leader of the opposition.

The independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission oversees elections in a professional manner. Its five commissioners serve five-year terms and are selected by the prime minister and the opposition on the basis of their expertise.

In 2023, the government rolled out a new national identification card, the Trident ID card, as part of a larger movement towards the digitization of government services. The head of the DLP complained that the cost to replace the card—60 Barbadian dollars (US$30)—would effectively be a tax on voting. The government responded that passports and driver’s licenses will still be accepted as alternative forms of voter identification.

The Constitutional Reform Commission (CRC), comprised of legal experts and civil society leaders, started its work in 2022 with a broad mandate to develop a modern constitution, which will then be approved by Parliament. The commission has been criticized for not being representative of all members of Barbadian society, in part because it does not include any members of the opposition. However, the CRC held inclusive public consultations throughout 2023. In August, it delayed the delivery of its proposals to Parliament, originally planned for September, until 2024.

The BLP dominates politics and holds all seats in the lower house, though other political parties do exist. The DLP was a major political force but, along with several smaller opposition parties, failed to win any seats in the 2022 elections, leaving Barbados without a formal leader of the opposition. Ronnie Yearwood, who was most recently reelected as the leader of the DLP in August 2023, has nevertheless emerged as a vocal critic of the government, as has former opposition leader Joseph Atherley.

Power has historically rotated peacefully between the BLP and DLP. However, the BLP won major electoral victories in 2018 and 2022, while the DLP won no seats in either election.

Barbados has a first-past-the-post electoral system, and in the 2022 elections the BLP won every House of Assembly seat with 69 percent of the vote. There is no constitutional mechanism to select a leader of the opposition in such cases.

Since their electoral losses, neither the DLP nor any other opposition party has received the annual grant generally paid to political parties, undermining their ability to compete. Nevertheless, the DLP reported a surge in membership in 2023, suggesting it may be competitive in the elections scheduled for 2027.

Voters and candidates are generally able to express their political choices without interference from actors that are not democratically accountable.

Barbados’s population is fully enfranchised, and adult citizens, Commonwealth citizens, and foreigners with seven years’ residency all have the ability to vote. Laws protect the political rights of women, but societal marginalization can discourage them from running for office. While the BLP and DLP were both headed by women during the January 2022 elections, women make up only 26.7 percent of the House of Assembly. In August 2023, the chairman of the Parliamentary Reform Commission suggested gender quotas as potential way to boost women’s political participation.

The prime minister and Parliament are largely unimpeded in their ability to craft and implement policy.

Acts of corruption occur but with less frequency than elsewhere in the region. Barbados’s government has historically failed to prosecute senior officials, and potential whistleblowers fear costly defamation suits.

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is responsible for scrutinizing government spending. The leader of the opposition is required to serve as its chairman, and as a result the committee has not met since late 2021. In 2023, the auditor general and the head of the DLP suggested an amendment to the PAC act that would allow an independent senator to chair the body. Another accountability body, the auditor general’s office, is under-resourced.

Barbados is one of just seven countries in the Americas to have neither signed nor ratified the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. The government has signed but not ratified the UN Convention against Corruption. However, a Prevention of Corruption Act was passed in 2021, updating legislation dating to 1929.

Barbados has not passed freedom of information legislation. Despite requirements outlined in the Public Finance Management Act of 2019, ministries often fail to publish annual reports.

In August 2023, the Mottley government passed the Integrity in Public Life Bill, which requires officials to declare their financial interests and those of their spouses and children. Officials who provide incomplete or false information could be disqualified from holding office for 10 years. The legislation, which was not fully implemented by year’s end, also outlines the powers of an Integrity Commission, and tasks it with further determining rules to prevent corruption.

Media are free from censorship and government control. Newspapers, including two major daily newspapers, are privately owned. Four private and two government-run radio stations operate. The government-owned Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation is the main local television station and provides balanced coverage. However, robust defamation laws encourage self-censorship.

The constitution guarantees freedom of religion, which is widely respected for mainstream religious groups. The Rastafarian and Muslim communities have secured greater protections in recent years.

Blasphemy is banned in Barbados, but the restriction is reportedly not enforced.

Academic freedom is respected, though members of the government occasionally disparage academics who criticize government policy.

Freedom of speech is largely respected in Barbados, and commentators and members of the public are free to express their views on most topics without negative consequences.

In late February 2023, a High Court judge ruled that a regulation prohibiting political activity by civil servants was unconstitutional. The court found that a sweeping ban infringed on freedom of expression and was not appropriate for all public officials. The case was prompted by disciplinary proceedings brought against a Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs employee who spoke at a BLP event during the 2022 elections.

Freedom of assembly is guaranteed by law and upheld in practice. Several protests took place peacefully in 2023, including a demonstration over plans to raise the age of pension eligibility from 67 to 68. However, organizers of the pension protest suggested that some people did not participate because they feared losing government contracts.

Many nongovernmental organizations operate without restriction or surveillance in Barbados, primarily focusing on cultural issues, homelessness, environmentalism, and women’s rights.

The right to form labor unions is respected, and unions are active and influential. However, critics have alleged that the BLP has sought to sideline or co-opt organized labor bodies. Unions and employers alike have argued that employment-rights legislation needs to be reformed.

The judiciary is generally independent. The Supreme Court includes a high court and a court of appeals. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is the highest appellate court for Barbados. The prime minister enjoys a wide degree of discretion in judicial appointments, something Mottley has promised to address in an ongoing constitutional reform process.

Constitutional due process guarantees are generally upheld. While the Mottley administration has appointed new judges, a case backlog persists. Legal reforms made in 2023 will enable the chief justice to formulate sentencing guidelines, intended to standardize the severity of sentencing in cases involving firearms, drugs, and theft.

Barbados is free from war. However, complaints that the Barbados Police Force physically abuses suspects have been reported in recent years.

Homicides appeared to decrease in 2023, with approximately 20 murders reported at the end of December, down from 43 in 2022. Officials attributed the drop to increased policing and efforts to confiscate guns.

The government has taken some steps to address prison overcrowding and abuse. In April 2023, several officers were found grossly negligent over the illness and death of an inmate at Dobbs Prison in 2022.

While capital punishment remains legal, the most recent execution took place in 1984 and the most recent sentence was issued in 2016. In 2019, the government repealed the mandatory death penalty in cases of murder. However, several prisoners facing the death sentence still awaited resentencing in 2023.

Women make up half of the country’s workforce, although they earn less than men for comparable work. LGBT+ people face discrimination in housing, employment, and health care. Barbados is not a signatory of the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and has not passed domestic legislation on asylum or refugee status.

Individuals in Barbados are generally free to move, live, and work as they see fit.

The legal framework generally supports property rights and private business activity. The government has worked to ensure a healthy environment for business and to attract domestic and foreign investment, particularly in the tourism industry.

Violence against women and children remains widespread, and laws addressing domestic violence are not well enforced.

In 2022, the High Court decriminalized same-sex relations by striking down parts of the 1992 Sexual Offences Act. The court released a written explanation of its judgment in May 2023.

Residents generally have access to economic opportunity, and the law provides some protections against exploitative labor practices. However, unions have criticized opaque employment practices in the hospitality industry.

In the 2023 edition of its Trafficking in Persons Report, the US State Department reported that Barbados was making “significant efforts” to meet the minimum standards required to eliminate trafficking. Five traffickers who were charged in previous years were still being prosecuted during the department’s reporting year, but no victims were identified, and no convictions had been recorded since the 2016 Trafficking in Persons Prevention Act came into force.