General elections were held in Barbados on 9 September 1971.[1] Amendments to the electoral system saw the two-member constituencies previously used replaced by single-member first-past-the-post constituencies.[2] This was also the first election in modern Barbadian history to be contested by only two political parties, not including two independent candidates.[3]
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24 seats in the House of Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 81.62% ( 1.92pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results by constituency | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The result was a victory for the Democratic Labour Party, which won 18 of the 24 seats. Despite achieving a larger increase in vote share than its opponent, the Barbados Labour Party lost two seats and its leader, Harold Bernard St. John, was defeated in his constituency of Christ Church South Central.[4] Voter turnout was 81.6%, the highest in the country's history.[1]
Results
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| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Democratic Labour Party | 53,295 | 57.40 | 18 | +4 | |
| Barbados Labour Party | 39,376 | 42.41 | 6 | –2 | |
| Independents | 174 | 0.19 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 92,845 | 100.00 | 24 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 92,845 | 98.75 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,174 | 1.25 | |||
| Total votes | 94,019 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 115,189 | 81.62 | |||
| Source: Nohlen | |||||
Further reading
- Hoyte, Harold, ed. (11 November 2012). "St. Michael holds key to poll victory". Nation Newspaper. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2013.