1961 Barbadian general election

General elections were held in Barbados on 4 December 1961.[1] They were the first held after Barbados was granted full self-government earlier in the year. 24 MPs were elected across twelve two-member constituencies, using the block vote method.[2]

1961 Barbadian general election
4 December 1961
24 seats in the House of Assembly
13 seats needed for a majority
Turnout61.32% (1.03%)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Errol Barrow Hugh Gordon Cummins Ernest Mottley
Party DLP BLP BNP
Leader's seat St. John St. Thomas (defeated) City of Bridgetown
Last election 14 seats 15 seats 3 seats
Seats won 14 5 4
Seat change 10 10 1
Popular vote 39,534 40,096 24,015
Percentage 36.30% 36.82% 22.05%
Swing 16.38% 12.53% 0.7%
Premier before election

Hugh Gordon Cummins
BLP

 Elected Premier

Errol Barrow
DLP

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Although the incumbent Barbados Labour Party (BLP) received more votes, the non-proportional electoral system allowed the opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to win 14 of the 24 seats and form a government for the first time. Among the defeated BLP candidates was the Premier Hugh Gordon Cummins, who lost his St. Thomas seat. This was also the last time an independent was elected to the Assembly, with trade union leader Frank Leslie Walcott winning a seat in the St. Peter constituency.[3] Voter turnout was 61.3%.[1]

Results
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Barbados Labour Party40,09636.825–10
Democratic Labour Party39,53436.3014+10
Barbados National Party24,01522.054+1
Independents5,2634.831–1
Total108,908100.00240
Valid votes63,53699.14
Invalid/blank votes5540.86
Total votes64,090100.00
Registered voters/turnout104,51861.32
Source: Caribbean Elections

References
  1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p90 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  2. "Barbados General Election Results - 4 December 1961". Caribbean Elections. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  3. Caribbean Elections


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