Premier David Burt’s decision to call a snap general election paid off handsomely on Thursday as the ruling Progressive Labour Party (PLP) scored a crushing 30 seats to six victory over the main opposition One Bermuda Alliance (OBA). Burt said now is the time for the British Overseas Territory to unite “with an incredibly difficult road ahead”.
According to preliminary results, the PLP won more than 60 per cent of the total vote in the three-way contest, but the turnout was one of the lowest in decades as more than 44 per cent of the electorate did not vote.
“We have an incredibly difficult road ahead for this country and it is going to require us all to work together, whether we be government, opposition, business, unions and citizens,” Burt told cheering supporters.
“I now say that it is time for us to put aside our red, our yellow and our green — our historical divisions — and come together as one people, one Bermuda, to recover our economy and to build a more inclusive economy that benefits all.
“I pledge to you today that this PLP government will not take this significant margin in the House of Assembly for granted,” Burt added.
OBA leader, Craig Cannonier, who held on to Devonshire South Central seat, said that it was too early for him to make a decision about his future after a night of turmoil and disappointment.
The party lost five seats it had won in the last election.
“I don’t plan on going anywhere right now because we have built a dynamic team,” he said.
The Free Democratic Movement (FDM), which joined the race at the 11th hour, did not win any seats in its first election, and its leader, Marc Bean said his party was here to stay and would work on writing its constitution and connecting with young voters.
Five PLP senators will swap the Upper Chamber for the Lower House after winning their seats.
Attorney-General Kathy Lynn Simmons, Vance Campbell, Anthony Richardson, Crystal Caesar and Ianthia Simmons-Wade will become MPs in the House of Assembly for the first time.
They will be joined by party colleagues Jason Wade and Jache Adams, both political newcomers.
The PLP had been handed victories before polling began in three uncontested constituencies.
Thursday’s PLP win — against a backdrop of six months of the COVID-19 pandemic which has battered an already struggling economy with the national debt now edging towards a record-high US$3 billion — was even more of a landslide than three years ago when the party ended the OBA’s one term in office with a 24-12 victory before adding another seat in a subsequent by-election.
The PLP won 15,998 votes, or 62 per cent, to 8,314 votes for the OBA, 32 per cent on Thursday.
The FDM, formed just a month ago after Burt called the snap election, got 1,384 votes — 5.37 per cent — while five independents managed 67 votes between them.
Burt was cheered as he appeared in front of a sea of green outside Alaska Hall, the party’s headquarters, after the victory was confirmed. But he told supporters that now was the time for the country to unite and that he planned to “reach out to all Bermudians, but especially those who did not support us”.
He regarded the victory as “an awesome honour and now is not the time for arrogance. It is the time for humility and reflection.
“It is a time to redouble our efforts to reconnect with those who feel across the country that this government is not listening to them.”
OBA deputy leader, Leah Scott and MP Ben Smith lost their seats in Southampton East Central and Southampton West Central, respectively, which left the West End from Warwick out represented by the PLP.
Opposition seats that had been held by Trevor Moniz, Sylvan Richards and Jeanne Atherden, who stepped down after the election was called, also fell to the PLP and the newly formed FDM, which fielded 14 candidates, got more votes than the OBA in three constituencies.
At OBA headquarters, where the mood was sombre, Cannonier, a former premier, said he has no plans to step down, adding “but I am going to sit down and take a few days and think about what it is I want to do next, and we’ll make some decisions from there.”
Bean, who previously led the PLP after it lost the 2012 election before stepping down in 2016 through ill health, said “we have to reflect on things. As we analyse the whole campaign, we’ll be able to look at our strengths and weaknesses and adjust accordingly.”
Of 42,638 people eligible to vote, only 25,763 cast a ballot, a decrease of almost 25 per cent compared with 2017, when 34,065 voted.
Ashfield DeVent, a former PLP minister, said the turnout was “concerning” adding that he had spoken earlier to a number of young black men who said they did not plan to vote.
“They said it didn’t make any difference to them who they voted for,” he said, while John Barritt, who was a United Bermuda Party and OBA MP for 18 years, added “they were sufficiently motivated not to vote.”
The dismal numbers resulted in the PLP and OBA getting 4,061 and 5,523 fewer votes respectively than in 2017. CMC
