Five months before elections are constitutionally due in Barbados, two alliances have been formed among four of the island’s fledgling political groupings.
In the latest development, Barbados Integrity Movement (BIM) leader Neil Holder announced yesterday that his almost two-year-old old organization has formed a political union with the New Barbados Kingdom Alliance (NBKA), founded by Apostle Lynroy Scantlebury in July last year.
“It is a merger not of convenience but necessity, because we share the same views and perspectives in terms of our country and what we look forward to happening here,” Holder said.
“We have the same demands also on service, and how we will deliver that to the country and what we expect of those persons who will put themselves up for political office,” he added, stressing that the two parties were also on the same page regarding stamping out corruption in Barbados.
Scantlebury added that the union was about giving Barbados the best alternative government.
“Most of us across this island are aware that we need a change and not just a switch, and so we want to make sure that come election time we are prepared to say to the public in Barbados, ‘this is an alternative to what you have been doing for the last 50 years’. We want to give them the change to not switch but make a definite change,” he said.
The BIM-NBKA partnership is the second political alliance announced recently, following last month’s amalgamation of the Citizens Action Partnership (CAP) and the United Progressive Party (UPP). The two are now operating under the UPP banner.
Holder and Scantlebury said they have 14 candidates between them, but are aiming to have a full slate of candidates by the time the election bell rings.
The next poll is constitutionally due by June.