Barbados- A political analyst believes the Barbados PM will call an early poll.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The Barbados-based regional political analyst, Peter Wickham, said Tuesday he believes Prime Minister Mia Mottley will go ahead with her plans to call an early general election in the country, even though the polls are not constitutionally due until 2027.

Mottley has hinted at facing the electorate early in the new year and has told supporters of the ruling Barbados Labour Party (BLP) that they should be prepared for the event.

“Whilst there is work to be done, there is work for the Barbados Labour Party and its soldiers to do, and we are all turning up for work in 2026. We are all turning up for work in 2026, because if something can be done, it is this Barbados Labour Party that will do it, always, always, always.

“I want you, therefore, to have a restful Christmas, a Merry Christmas, because when I start to call on you, I don’t want you to tell me that you are tired. And when I start to call on you, I don’t want you to tell me anything other than ‘Prime Minister, we are ready. We are red and ready. We are red, red, red and ready, ready, ready,” she said.

Wickham, who is also a pollster, told listeners to his programme “Let’s Talk About It” on the state-owned Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that he believes Mottley will call the election early.

“The outcome, I don’t believe, will surprise anyone, quite frankly, and I say this as a person who was skeptical about the Grenada elections a few years ago, but I don’t know that the outcome will surprise anyone.

“The conversation we are having these days is whether the opposition can actually gain a seat or two, but the likelihood that they would win, I think, is really quite low in the minds of people,” he said, adding, “We will have some work to do early in the new year.

If elections are called next year, it would mark the second consecutive time Mottley, who led the BLP to landslide 30-0 victories in both the 2018 and 2022 general elections, defeating the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), has dissolved Parliament with a year remaining in her term.

The BLP recently nominated candidates to fly the party’s flag in the St Thomas and St Joseph constituencies, replacing longstanding Members of Parliament who are not contesting the next general election.