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The Government and Political System in Barbados

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Since November 30, 1966, the country was declared independent, and since then, has been adopting a parliamentary democracy form of government at the same time remaining a commonwealth realm of UK.

Although independent, Barbados and its constituents still recognize Queen Elizabeth II as the Queen of Barbados and as the Head of State. The Queen however does not exercise executive powers over this independent territory as she appoints a Governor General of Barbados to oversee the affairs of this island state. The current appointed Governor General of Barbados is Sir Clifford Husbands.

Barbados Parliament, SourceThe Governor General of Barbados appoints all senators that makes up the upper house of the legislative assembly. All in all, Barbados has 21 senators and so the Governor General appoints 21 senators to complete the upper house members.

The Lower House members of this bicameral body, or more commonly known as the House of Assembly, are the elected members. 30 members of the House of Assembly are elected every 5 years. It is not the person that is elected but a political party and a winning party selects a member to represent them in the House of Assembly. All political parties may field in 30 candidates and the one with the most seats won can put their political party leader in the office of the Prime Minister.

Currently, Barbados has two major political parties that are always fighting tooth and nail every election, the Democratic Labour Party and the Barbados Labour Party. The one sitting right now as Prime Minister is David John Howard Thompson is from the Democratic Labour Party who won 20 of the 30 seats.

The judicial system of Barbados also has a Supreme Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal and Magistrates Court. Simple cases do not require a jury and are handled by the Magistrates court.