Independent : [2] Barbados elected its first-ever president on Thursday, dropping Queen Elizabeth as the head of the state 55 years after independence from Britain. Dame Sandra Mason, the governor general of the Caribbean nation which is set to become a republic, will be sworn in on 30 November when the country marks the 55th anniversary of independence from Britain.
[3] Ms Mason, 72, was elected late on Wednesday after a joint session of the House of Assembly and the Senate voted in a two-thirds majority with only one member declining to vote. The landmark election was hailed as a “seminal moment” for the nation by prime minister Mia Mottley. “We have just elected from among us a woman who is uniquely and passionately Barbadian, does not pretend to be anything else [and] reflects the values of who we are,” Ms Mottley said after election.
[4] Ms Mottley said the move is not to denounce its British past. “We look forward to continuing the relationship with the British monarch,” she said.
[5] Ms Mason was the first woman to serve on the Barbados Court of Appeals and served as governor-general since 2018.