Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne says the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is prepared for a general election, after Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley announced tonight that Barbadians would go to the polls on February 11, 2026.
In a national statement on the Opposition Leader’s YouTube channel following the announcement, Thorne described the election as a defining moment and said the DLP had been preparing “with deliberateness and with purpose”.
Thorne said he understood the frustration many Barbadians were feeling, arguing that confidence in governance had eroded, adding the Barbados Labour Party had stopped “working for the ordinary people”.
“Over the last seven years too many Barbadians have watched politics become more about power, political self-interest, and opportunism. We have seen decisions and laws made without explanation,” he said.
The Opposition Leader said if people felt disappointed, disconnected and disillusioned, he also agreed.
“It is for this reason that I could no longer sit comfortably on a government bench. I didn’t leave because of any opportunity, fame, or promised riches. I left because my spirit was uneasy,” he explained, “uneasy with how decisions were being made and who they were being made for. Uneasy with too much power resting in too few hands. Uneasy with choices driven by political survival instead of doing what is right for Barbadians and all Barbadians.”
Thorne said it was also in the interest of democracy that he has been speaking up.
“I am proud to say that I spoke up in Parliament when others chose silence because a strong democracy depends on people willing to speak, even when it is uncomfortable, inconvenient, or even unpopular to do so. This current Barbadian Labour Party government, their ministers, and their MPs do not want opposing voices. So this election will be about changing that.
“Over the past two years, the Democratic Labour Party has been listening, preparing, and building quietly and with purpose. We have assembled a team of capable, committed candidates, fresh faces, guided by experienced hands grounded in one principle. Barbadians and the people who live and work here must come first.
“People empowerment must come before international praise. Accountability and transparency must come before PR and optics. Decisions affecting your lives must be made in the open, not behind closed doors.”
The Opposition Leader said their campaign would focus on issues like the cost of living, crime and the healthcare system, and the DLP would speak for young people who believed they only had negative options and the elderly who felt abandoned.
“This campaign will not be about personalities, it will be about people,” Thorne said, adding that the DLP was ready to contest the election with a full slate of candidates.
“Elections may have been called by one person, but what happens next belongs to all of us,” he said.
