House of Assembly of Barbados

Under section 59 of the constitution, before entering upon the functions of his or her office, the MPs must take the oath of allegiance and the oath of office. According to the "First Schedule" section of the Constitution of Barbados, the official Oath of office for the Prime Minister, Ministers of Parliament, and Parliamentary Secretaries of Barbados is as follows:

I, _________________________, being appointed (Prime Minister/Minister/Parliamentary Secretary), do swear that I will do the best of my judgement, at all times when so required, freely give my counsel and advice to the Governor General (or any other person for the time being lawfully performing the functions of that office) for the good management of the public affairs of Barbados, and I do further swear that I will not on any account, at any time whatsoever, disclose the counsel, advice, opinion or vote of any particular Minister or Parliamentary Secretary and that I will not, except with the authority of the Cabinet and to such extent as may be required for the good management of the affairs of Barbados, directly or indirectly reveal the business or proceedings of the Cabinet or the nature or contents of any documents communicated to me as (Prime Minister/Minister/Parliamentary Secretary) or any matter coming to my knowledge in my capacity as such and that in all things I will be a true and faithful (Prime Minister/Minister/Parliamentary Secretary), so Help me God.

The Constitution of Barbados reads, in part:

• 61(3) "...Parliament, unless sooner dissolved, shall continue for five years from the date of its first sitting after any dissolution and shall then stand dissolved."
• 62(1) "After every dissolution of Parliament the Governor General shall issue writs for a general election of members of appointment the House of Assembly returnable within ninety days from that dissolution."[2]

The previous Parliament first sat on 6 March 2013, and was constitutionally dissolved on 6 March 2018. The next election is constitutionally required to be held in 2023 at the latest.

With a single party elected to all 30 seats, Bishop Joseph Atherley chose to become an independent politician and take the role of official Leader of the Opposition.[1][3]

In previous elections the National Democratic Party (NDP), the Barbados National Party (BNP), the Conservatives and Independents also won seats besides the two big parties - the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). The DLP had been in opposition since 6 September 1994. Fourteen years later when they won a surprise victory of 20 seats to 10 on 15 January 2008, DLP Leader David Thompson was sworn in as the 6th Prime Minister of Barbados. Freundel Stuart was sworn in on 23 October 2010 because of the death of the Prime Minister Thompson, who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2010. Two months later in May 2010 he became ill when the then Acting Prime Minister Freundel Stuart had started, and five months later he was sworn in on 23 October 2010 as the 7th Prime Minister of Barbados. On 23 February 2013 he was sworn in as the 7th Prime Minister of Barbados by obtaining sixteen out of thirty seats. The general elections of 21 February 2013 were one of the closest election Barbados has ever seen.

• Parliament of Barbados
• Senate of Barbados
• Politics of Barbados
• List of legislatures by country

• Official website
• Reports of General Elections and By-Elections, Electoral and Boundaries Commission (E&BC)