1961 Barbadian general election

General elections were held in Barbados on 4 December 1961.^[1] They were the first held after Barbados was granted full self-government earlier in the year. 24 MPs were elected across twelve two-member constituencies, using the block vote method.^[2]

1961 Barbadian general election

← 1956 4 December 1961 1966 →
24 seats in the House of Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	61.32% (1.03pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Errol Barrow Hugh Gordon Cummins Ernest Mottley Party DLP BLP BNP Last election 4 seats 15 seats 3 seats Seats won 14 5 4 Seat change 10 10 1 Popular vote 39,534 40,096 24,015 Percentage 36.30% 36.82% 22.05% Swing 16.38pp 12.53pp 0.70pp
Results by constituency
Premier before election Hugh Gordon Cummins BLP Elected Premier Errol Barrow DLP

Although the incumbent Barbados Labour Party (BLP) received more votes, the non-proportional electoral system allowed the opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to win 14 of the 24 seats and form a government for the first time. Among the defeated BLP candidates was the Premier Hugh Gordon Cummins, who lost his St. Thomas seat. This was also the last time an independent was elected to the assembly, with trade union leader Frank Leslie Walcott winning a seat in the St. Peter constituency.^[3] Voter turnout was 61.3%.^[1]

Results

The result was highly disproportionate for the two major parties, with the BLP receiving 37% of the vote but only winning 25% of the seats, while the DLP received 36% of the vote and won 58% of the seats.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Barbados Labour Party	40,096	36.82	5	–10
	Democratic Labour Party	39,534	36.30	14	+10
	Barbados National Party	24,015	22.05	4	+1
	Independents	5,263	4.83	1	–1
Total		108,908	100.00	24	0
Valid votes		63,536	99.14
Invalid/blank votes		554	0.86
Total votes		64,090	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		104,518	61.32
Source: Caribbean Elections