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.
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.
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.
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.
As part of the Electoral Department
As part of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission