General elections were held in

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

on 18 December 2007 to elect all 36 members of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...

. The incumbent Progressive Labour Party (PLP) led by

Ewart Brown Ewart Frederick Brown Jr. (born 1946) is a politician and physician who served as the ninth Premier of Bermuda and leader of the country's Progressive Labour Party (PLP) from 2006 to 2010. He represented Warwick South Central as a Member of P ...

was returned for a third term, with 22 of the 36 seats of the House of Assembly, with the opposition

United Bermuda Party The United Bermuda Party (UBP) was a political party in Bermuda, which represented itself as centrist party with a moderate social and fiscal agenda. The party held power in Bermuda's House of Assembly continuously from 1968 to 1998, the 47-year ...

(UBP) winning the remaining 14 seats.

Background

Bermuda gained internal self government with the introduction of a constitution in 1968 and for the first 30 years afterwards the United Bermuda Party was in power. Their domination was broken by defeat in the 1998 election leading to the Progressive Labour Party winning government for the first time. The PLP government was returned at the 2003 election, winning 22 seats compared to 14 seats for the United Bermuda Party. Bermuda remains a British overseas territory; independence was rejected in a referendum in 1995. However, in 2004 the then

Premier of Bermuda The Premier of Bermuda serves as head of government of Bermuda, under appointment by the Governor of Bermuda, in the governor's capacity as representative in Bermuda of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. The position was created b ...

, called for a debate on independence to take place.

became Premier in October 2006, defeating the incumbent, William Alexander Scott, in a contest for the leadership of PLP, while in March 2007 Michael Dunkley became leader of the opposition United Bermuda Party, ousting

Wayne Furbert Wayne may refer to: People with the given name and surname * Wayne (given name) * Wayne (surname) Geographical Places with name ''Wayne'' may take their name from a person with that surname; the most famous such person was Gen. "Mad" Antho ...

Campaign

On 2 November 2007, Premier Brown announced that the election would be held on 18 December. Both main parties put up 36 candidates and there were two

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidates. Altogether 42,337 people were registered to vote with each constituency having about 1,100 voters. An

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinion ...

in the summer had put the UBP on 40%, the PLP on 34% and 26% undecided. Analysts saw 7 of the 36 seats as likely to be close. The incumbent PLP campaigned on the basis of their record where they said they had increased tourism and attracted development to Bermuda. They pledged that they would introduce free

day care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

, bus and ferry transportation if they were re-elected. With Bermuda having a population that was 60% of African descent, the PLP said that votes for the UBP were a vote for white people. They used the example of two black people who had left the UBP earlier in the year after saying that the white elite was still in control of the party. The election was seen as being partly contested on the performance of Premier Brown. The UBP described him as a polarizing figure and accused him of being involved in corruption. A police dossier had alleged there was corruption in the

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

corporation, but prosecutors said they could not find any evidence of illegality. The PLP, however, described their leader as "the man who gets things done". The UBP criticised the PLP for having failed to create enough

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...

and for their plans for enforcing

racial equality Racial equality is a situation in which people of all races and ethnicities are treated in an egalitarian/equal manner. Racial equality occurs when institutions give individuals legal, moral, and political rights. In present-day Western societ ...

in the workplace. A former UBP premier said that the PLP's plan to fine companies if they did not promote black people to senior posts could drive away many

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

s and companies from Bermuda. The UBP said that, if they were elected, they would give Bermudian status to everyone who had lived in Bermuda for more than 20 years, which the PLP said would be a mistake which could lead to 8,000 more Bermudians. Also at issue in the election was both parties' policies over

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

for Bermuda. Premier Brown was in favour of independence but his party said that this was just a long-term goal and that they would not use the election as the basis for a push for independence. The UBP said that they would hold a referendum if they won the election and said that Bermuda should not become independent unless there was clear support in a referendum. An

in 2007 had shown that around two-thirds of Bermudians were opposed to independence. The campaign lasted six weeks, the longest ever in Bermuda, and was seen as being very bitter. Polls showed the election was tight with analysts saying that they expected the result to be close. During the campaign there was an incident when someone attempted to mail a bullet to Premier Brown, but it was intercepted by a postal worker, which led both parties to try to calm the campaign down.

Results

The results of the election saw no change from the 2003 election with the Progressive Labour Party still winning 22 seats and the United Bermuda Party 14 seats. The leader of the United Bermuda Party, Michael Dunkley, failed to win election in Smith's North losing by 444 votes to 536. He had given up his safe seat of Devonshire East to try to overturn the United Bermuda Party's deficit by winning a marginal seat.

References

{{Bermudan elections

General election Elections in Bermuda

December 2007 events in North America