Rihanna 'Endorses' Mia Mottley Ahead of Barbados' General Election

With Barbadians heading to polls Thursday, pop star Rihanna appears to have to have issued an endorsement of Mia Amor Mottley, the political leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and candidate for the post of Prime Minister. 

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Commenting on a social media post by one of her close friends Leandra Goodridge, Rihanna suggested that she was supporting the BLP leader and current opposition leader ahead of the vote, which would give the winning political party a five-year mandate to govern Barbados. 

Goodridge commented on the Instagram Stories of Bajantube, writing, "Watching my next Prime Minister all day on @Bajantube stories," to which Rihanna, real name Robyn Rihanna Fenty, replied: "Yes…. She deserves it!"

Mottley, who has been actively using social media to reach younger voters, took note of the endorsement and expressed gratitude for to Rihanna for her "love, support and blessings." 

The BLP leader has been involved in a heated political campaign often facing off with the Democratic Labour Party, led by Barbadian Prime Minister Freundel Stuart. Mottley held a slew of ministerial portfolios between 1994 and 2008 and is also a member of the Inter-American Dialogue.

Barbados' election comes amid a report published by the Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) Office of Evaluation and Oversight (OVE) that has predicted the country will need budgetary assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the general elections.

The report titled the Approach Paper Barbados 2014-2018 Country Program Evaluation (CPE), also indicated that Barbados' government has been borrowing billions to bridge the gap between state expenditure and revenue, and highlights the country's foreign reserves figures as one of the many concerns.