255,833 persons will be eligible to vote in Thursday’s general election. This number was disclosed to caribbeansignal.com earlier tonight by an official from the Electoral & Boundaries Commission. There is also a possibility that an addendum will be made and that this number will increase by a very small amount. For comparison: 249,024 persons were eligible to vote in 2013, 235,510 in 2008 and 220,093 in 2003. The EBC source also revealed that 3,019 persons were eligible to vote early on May 17 and that there were 16 foreign service electors.
In addition to the increase in the number of persons eligible to vote, there have also been increases in the number of political parties, independent candidates and female candidates.
Sources: Barbados Electoral & Boundaries Commission and CaribbeanElections.com