May 12th: One Bermuda Alliance Launch
The One Bermuda Alliance [OBA] will launch this coming Thursday [May 12].
On May 3, months of speculation ended when members of the United Bermuda Party [UBP] met and officially voted to authorize party officers to dissolve the UBP, and merge with the Bermuda Democratic Alliance [BDA] to form a new party.
Senator Jeanne Atherden confirmed the vote, and said that people have called for a combined opposition and asked for people to get involved. She said the BDA and UBP core values are the same, and have never been different.
The BDA was founded in 2009 by former UBP members Shawn Crockwell, Donte Hunt, Mark Pettingill, Wayne Scott, Michael Fahy, Sean Pitcher and Michael W. Branco. Three of the members were sitting MPs and crossed the floor to form a new party.
The merger talks between the two parties started late last year, and although it hasn’t been officially confirmed who will lead the new party, UBP MP John Barritt has been tipped as the likely leader. The OneBermudaAlliance.bm website is presently under construction.
The PLP responded to the merger saying, “We at the Progressive Labour Party are not surprised at the results of the vote tonight for the UBP to wind up and reunite with their BDA counterparts. We will not be distracted by their name changes and internal politics, but will instead stay focused on the many challenges facing our community.”
“Our Premier & Party Leader the Hon. Paula Cox has made it abundantly clear that she and the PLP government team are firmly committed to serving our community and navigating through these tough times.”
“The reunion of the Opposition parties, and the renaming of their ‘new’ entity, is not our predominant concern.”
