Column: Robinson On Electoral Reform & More
[Opinion column written by OBA MP Dwayne Robinson]
During the October 2nd question period in the House of Assembly, I asked for an update on electoral reform. I must commend the Minister for the Cabinet office because she answered earnestly without political bluster or rhetoric. However, the bottom line is that the Government was unable to meet its September deadline for bringing electoral reform legislation to Parliament.
When I tabled the Absentee Voting Act 2025 last September, the rationale was to focus on a very specific electoral reform. The Progressive Labour Party railed against this, claiming that it would do wholesale electoral reform.
At the time I made the argument that attempting to reform too many things at once will stall the process for Bermudians who wish to see absentee voting now. Naturally the Minister at the time ignored my assertions and began the commencement of town halls, public consultation, and eventually formed an impressive working group compromising all the pollical entities in Bermuda.
He then made a bold pledge that reform would be ready to be implemented by September 2026, with his sentiment echoed by current Minister for the Cabinet Office, Dr Emily Gail Dill.
We are in October and not one piece of electoral legislation has been brought before the House of Assembly. This is not a political “gotcha”, this is disappointment seeing a pledge made by all parties in the last general election be treated as an afterthought.
The PLP levies criticism against the OBA, saying the Opposition doesn’t bring forth solutions, yet when we do table legislation, amendments, and offer alternatives they are ignored or often shot down before they even make it to the second reading.
The irony is the PLP then borrows our ideas down the line, repackage them as their own, and then executes them poorly.
The House may not sit again until November, meaning this legislation will only have about a month left in the year to be tabled then passed. My hope is that the legislation will be brought to the House before the end of the year.
The PLP committed to electoral reform being in place before the next election. That part of the promise is increasingly becoming more prevalent, as the public instability of the ruling party continues to increase.
I do not need to delve in or recount any of the events that have transpired, as most of Bermuda is aware of the current crisis the Progressive Labour Party finds itself in.
We cannot afford these crucial reforms to be lost in another cabinet shuffle or regime change. We also cannot ignore the probability of a General Election being earlier than anticipated.
I urge the Minister to fulfill the Government’s contract with the electorate and bring forth its promised electoral reform legislation. The One Bermuda Alliance pledged that the 2025 General election would be the last election where ordinarily resident Bermudians who were overseas for school, medical treatment, and mandatory work trips would be left out of the election. The other parties pledged the same, but the Progressive Labour Party was chosen to form Government. Will this be another promise made, promise broken?
- Dwayne Robinson, One Bermuda Alliance MP for Constituency 30, Southampton East Central
The PLP are Masters at kicking cans down the road.
Electoral reform has been kicked around for over 30 years, OBA included.
Get on with it. A registered voter anywhere in the world should be able to vote. This is not complicated. What is the PLP afraid of?
Also the Landlord Tenant Act has been deferred after many years of Government meetings to fix it and give landlords incentive to open apartments currently closed to domestic rentals.
Again, what is the PLP afraid of? Will a crackdown on undesirable tenants cost the PLP votes? Who loses with non available apartments because of no landlord support in the courts?
The point about the September deadline slipping is what stands out to me. A working group that includes every political party sounds like the right way to build consensus, but it also makes it easy for the timetable to drift when nobody owns it. I hope the absentee voting piece can at least be split out and passed before the year ends, since that is the part people have already waited longest for.