One Bermuda Alliance
One Bermuda Alliance | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Michael Dunkley JP MP |
| Founded | 17 May 2011 |
| Preceded by | United Bermuda Party |
| Headquarters | Reid Street, Hamilton, Bermuda |
| Senate | 5 / 11 |
| Assembly | 19 / 36 |
| Website | |
| http://www.oba.bm | |
The One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) is the ruling political party in Bermuda since December 2012. It is a result of a May 2011 merger of most members of Bermuda's two main opposition parties, the United Bermuda Party and the Bermuda Democratic Alliance.
History
The United Bermuda Party (UBP) was founded in 1964 and won every Bermuda election until 1998, when it lost to the Progressive Labour Party. The UBP remained the official opposition party until 2011.
The Bermuda Democratic Alliance (BDA) was formed in 2009 by breakaway members of the UBP that believed only a new party could win support from the PLP. It contested one by-election in December 2010, placing third behind the PLP and UBP, with the PLP retaining about the same support level that it had in the 2007 general election.[1] Concern that vote-splitting among the two opposition parties would result in an easy victory for the governing PLP prompted the BDA and UBP to enter merger talks.
The initial intention of UBP and BDA negotiators was to formally merge the two parties,[2] but when UBP leader Kim Swan sought an injunction to block the merger, seven sitting MPs of the UBP quit their former party and joined the three BDA members to become Bermuda's new official opposition on May 17, 2011.[3]
The party held its inaugural leadership convention on September 10, 2011, where the former BDA leader, Senator Craig Cannonier, narrowly won the party leadership over challenger Everard T. (Bob) Richards, the party's shadow finance minister.[4] The current party leader is Michael Dunkley, who took over as leader and Premier after the resignation of Craig Cannonier on 19 May 2014.[5]
The party won the 2012 elections, taking 19 of the 36 seats in the House of Assembly.[6]
Policies
The party's slogan is "Putting Bermuda First." Its policies include:
- balancing the budget in its first term
- cutting Ministerial pay by at least 10%
- allocating more government contracts to small business
- additional resources for police
- introducing a fully integrated technical curriculum and a longer school day
- having fixed term elections, right to petition for referendums and recall of MPs.
Party leaders
| Leader | Entered office | Left office |
|---|---|---|
| John Barritt | May 2011 | September 2011 |
| Craig Cannonier | September 2011 | May 2014 |
| Michael Dunkley | May 2014 |
Election Results
| General election | # of candidates | # of elected candidates | total votes | % of popular vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 36 | 19 | 15949 | 51.7% |
References
- ^ Bermuda Sun, 15 December 2010.
- ^ Royal Gazette, 2 May 2011.
- ^ Bermuda Sun, 16 May 2011.
- ^ Bermuda Sun, 11 September 2011.
- ^ Bernews.com, 20 May 2014.
- ^ "Election Map", Royal Gazette, 17 December 2012.