No Grounds In Current Conditions To Postpone

“While the Governor continues to monitor the situation with respect to Hurricane Teddy, he does not see grounds under the current circumstances to postpone the General Election on 1 October,” Government House said today.

This was in response to a query we posed, asking that with the island currently finalizing recovery from Hurricane Paulette and keeping watch on Hurricane Teddy — which the BWS said is a “potential threat to Bermuda — if the island takes a hit from Teddy would the General Election, which is set to take place in just under two weeks, be postponed.

A Government House spokesperson told Bernews, “The legal position is set out in Section 27A of the Parliamentary Election Act 1978. This gives the Governor the power to cancel the appointed polling day and appoint another day [within a thirty day period] in certain circumstances, including the occurrence of a hurricane.

“But the island recovered quickly from Hurricane Paulette and while the Governor continues to monitor the situation with respect to Hurricane Teddy, he does not see grounds under the current circumstances to postpone the General Election on 1 October.”

Government House cited Section 27A of the Parliamentary Election Act 1978 [PDF] which states:

Power to postpone elections

Where at any time between the issue of a writ of election and the polling day appointed by that writ the Governor is satisfied that it is expedient so to do by reason of—

• [a] Bermuda having become, or being likely to become, engaged in any war; or
• [b] a state of emergency having been proclaimed under section 14(3) of the Constitution; or
• [c] the occurrence of an earthquake, hurricane, flood or fire, or the outbreak of a pestilence or an infectious disease or other calamity whether similar to the foregoing or not; or
• [d] the likelihood that the voters´ list will not be available before the polling day; or
• [e] the occurrence of rioting, open violence or other civil disturbance which has caused, or is likely to cause, such interruption or abandonment of the electoral process as to prejudice the holding of a fair election,

he may by proclamation published in the Gazette cancel the polling day appointed by the writ and appoint another day, not being more than thirty days after that day (but subject in any event to the limits set forth in section 51(1) and (2) of the Constitution), to be the polling day instead

For comprehensive coverage of the 2020 Bermuda General Election and past elections, you can find more information and statistics on the links below.

• All: Our coverage of the 2020 General Election here
• Candidates: List of the currently confirmed candidates here
• Constituencies: Data/past results of all 36 constituencies
• Timeline: Visual look at the 2020 election timeline here
• Official: The Government’s election website here
• Comprehensive: Our new BermudaElection.com website here

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Category: All, News, Politics