Barbados elects first-ever president, shedding colonial past

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prince Charles attends a meeting with the Governor-General of Barbados, Sandra Mason, during a visit to Barbados, March 19, 2019. Tim Rooke/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

(Reuters) - Barbados has elected its first-ever president to replace Britain's Queen Elizabeth as head of state in a decisive step toward shedding the Caribbean island's colonial past.

Sandra Mason was elected late on Wednesday by a two-thirds vote of a joint session of the country's House of Assembly and Senate, a milestone, the government said in a statement, on its "road to republic."