Prime Minister Freundel Stuart must call general elections in Barbados within the next three months after dissolution of the Parliament, so that parliamentarians can return within 90 days.
Dissolution of Parliament in Barbados is scheduled to automatically occur on March 6, 2018, five years after the first session of the Parliament of 2013-2018 which commenced on Wednesday 6th March, 2013.
After every dissolution of Parliament the Governor General shall issue writs for a general election of members of the House of Assembly returnable within ninety days from that dissolution
Elections must then be held no greater then 21 days after, and no less then 14 days after the date the poll is officially announced, and this must take into account that it must all be completed within the 90 day time frame
Every writ issued for the purposes of subsection (1) shall be in the Form 2 set out in the Third Schedule and shall specify the day of nomination of candidates, the day upon which, if necessary, the poll shall be taken, being not less than 14 and not more than 21 clear days thereafter, and the day the writ is returnable to the Governor-General.
What does this all mean? It means that parliament must be resumed on or before 6 June 2018. 14 days subtracted from June 6 will give a date of 23 May 2018, which is the last day the prime minster has before calling the 2018 general elections.
Prime Minister Stuart, therefore, can announce elections as late as early May 2018, and still be in keeping with the Constitution.
"We, the DLP administration, were given five years from February 21 until. So that is what we are going to do. And when Parliament is dissolved, the Constitution says you have to call an election within 90 days and all of that we know. So take it easy. The law is going to be observed at every point. You can be sure about that," Prime Minister Stuart had said.
Though the Prime Minister had said his government has five years after February 21, 2013 to call the elections, with a further 90 day grace period. This is not entirely true according to the Constitution [Section 61 - (3)]. Those five years are counted from the first sitting of parliament which occurred after the last general election. The 90 day period calls upon the Govenor General to declare that parliament should resume within that time.
Subject to the provisions of subsection (4), Parliament, unless sooner dissolved, shall continue for five years from the date of its first sitting after any dissolution and shall then stand dissolved.