The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has won the country’s 2018 General Elections unseating the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), which has governed the country since 2008.

The crushing victory for the BLP means that its political leader Mia Amor Mottley will be sworn in as Barbados’ first female Prime Minister since the country gained independence from Britain in 1966.

The TeleSur news network reported  that Mottley, 52, becomes Barbados’ eight Prime Minister and the fifth female head of government in the English speaking the Caribbean joining the likes of the late Dame Eugenia Charles of Dominica, Janet Jagan of Guyana, Portia Simpson Miller in Jamaica and Kamla Persad- Bissessar in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) reported earlier that preliminary figures showed that the BLP was ahead of the incumbent Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in all 30 constituencies as  Mottley moved closer to becoming the first woman to head a government in this Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

The figures show that Prime Minister Freundel Stuart was trailing new comer Kirk Humphrey in the St Michael South constituency and that most of his Cabinet colleagues were also facing the possibility of not returning to the Parliament.

The DLP had been in power for the past 10 years and Stuart, who had succeeded the late David Thompson as prime minister when he died in October 2010, had successfully won the 2013 poll by a slender two seat margin.

The counting of the ballots had been held up for several hours because of “certain irregularities”.

In a statement, the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) , said the Chief Electoral Officer was mandated by a court order late Thursday to add 18 people to the Register of Electors.