The Electoral and Boundaries Commission is the independent non-partisan department responsible for administering all elections in Barbados. It is also responsible for maintaining the registry of all citizens and non-national residents within the country and the issuing of national identity cards. It was established in 1985 after an amendment to the Constitution of Barbados under Section 41A.
History The Electoral and Boundaries commission traces its origins back to the establishment of the Office of the Chief Registering Officer in the 1960s by the colonial government when Barbados was a colony in the British Empire to conduct local and national elections. In 1969, the first national identification cards were issued for the 1969 City of Bridgetown by-election, after a survey was conducted in 1966, and issued for the rest of the country later that year in September. In 1971, the Electoral department was established under the newly created position of the Chief Electoral Officer. The entire identification system was later computerized in 1979 with the assistance of the Processing and Statistical Service Departments.
The modern Electoral and Boundaries commission was then established in 1985 after the constitution of Barbados was amended for its creation and replaced the Electoral Department. Its first election supervised was the 1985 St. Thomas by-election and it has handled elections and the process of registering and distributing national identification cards ever since.
Functions The commission is responsible for:
The commission is also governed by the laws of the Representation of the People Act, Chapter 12, Representation of the People (General Elections) Allocation of Broadcasting Time Regulations, 1990, People (Registration of Electors) Regulations, 1990 and the Elections Offences and Controversies Rules, 1959, all which outline the legal conduct of elections for the media, electorate and the candidates.
Structure and Governance In accordance to the constitution, the commission consists of at least a chairman, a deputy chairman and 3 other members as stipulated:
The commission also hires the necessary amount of staff to execute its duties in accordance to the constitution as well. It employs a Chief Electoral officer, a deputy chief electoral officer, 30 registering officers to reflect the amount of constituencies in the country, a senior photographer for identity cards and ion cards and other administrative staff.
List of Chairmen Kenrick Jordan 1985 – 1990 Asquith Phillips 1990 – 1995 Milton Pierce 1995 – 2000 Philip Serrao 2000 – 2010 Owen L. Estwick 2010 – 2015 John Haynes 2015 – 2020 Leslie Haynes 2020–present
List of Chief Electoral Officers As part of the Electoral Department Dennis Smith 1971 – 1985 As part of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission Dennis Smith 1985 – 1991 Edwin Stroude 1992 – 1994 Mersada Elcock 1994 – 1996 Hensley Robinson 1996 – 2001 Godfrey Hinds 2001 – 2002 Angela Taylor 2005–present
List of Deputy Chief Electoral Officers Mersada Elcock 1987 – 1994 Hensley Robinson 1994 – 1996 Andrew Jones 1996 – 1998 Donville Johnson 1998 – 2006 Arthur Holder 2003 – 2004 Ian Browne 2004–present
See also Election commission Parliament of Barbados List of parliamentary constituencies of Barbados
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