BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Prime Minister Owen Arthur has expressed satisfaction with the latest opinion poll here which shows his administration will likely win an unprecedented fourth term in office if general elections are called now.

According to the CADRES poll published in the Sunday Sun, Arthur's Barbados Labour Party was favoured by 33 per cent of the electorate while 22 per cent said they would vote for the opposition Democratic Labour Party if a general election was held at this time, virtually the same position as the last poll six months ago.

"I am relatively happy with the poll. The opposition has been very, very active recently and I think that they would have been expecting a better poll. I am not getting complacent about it though," Arthur told a local radio station in his first official comment on the poll which put his personal popularity rating at 52 per cent, as opposed to Opposition Leader David Thompson's 28 per cent.