BOGUS CRIMINAL CHARGES ARE OFTEN FILED IN BARBADOS, AGAINST OPPOSITION POLITICIANS, TO DETER THEM FROM PARTICIPATING IN DEMOCRACY

No democracy here.

If you were wondering, as I did, why there are no Opposition members in the Parliament of Barbados, and why all thirty seats belong to the party in power, I believe I can tell you why. There is an organized campaign of intimidation against anyone bold enough to stand for election, who is part of any Opposition party. My sources tell me that Opposition politicians are often brought up on purely bogus criminal charges, in order to discredit them, and to deter them from running for Parliament. Factor in several other voting irregularities and illegal acts, and you get a dictatorial system masquerading as a functional democracy. 

One politician, from a relatively new Opposition party, was warned that, should she stand for election, the criminal case pending against her would proceed, but if she withdrew, the case would go away. The net result is that Barbados is a one-party, authoritarian state, which is definitely not a democracy, as the term contemplates at least a working two-party system.Even a new, reform oriented party has not been successful , due to threats and intimidation of its members since its formation. 

Given that the police and prosecutors are known to be totally corrupt, and an arm of the political elite that rule Barbados with an organ hand, the filing of criminal charges that have no basis in fact, and are therefore illegal, is a regular occurrence in Barbados, which has acquired the reputation of being the most corrupt country amongst the East Caribbean states, many of which also routinely feature the widespread buying of votes at election, time the awarding of jobs to influence votes, and the importation of expats, at the expense of the party in power, to stuff the ballot box with favorable votes.