Voters in Bermuda go to the polls to elect new government

Voters are headed to the polls in Bermuda today in a contest that is pitting the ruling One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) against the opposition Progressive Labor Party (PLP).

The PLP insists that education remains its top priority, and promised the following in the event that it wins the election:
  – a review of all school facilities to identify and correct any health and safety issue in the first 100 days of a PLP administration;
  – an increase in scholarship funding, and implementation of a low-interest student rate program to “further increase access to higher education”;
  – a phase-out of middle schools and the creation of “signature schools”.

According to PLP leader David Burt, students had been “forgotten under the OBA” and frequent changes in education ministers had created inconsistencies and a lack of accountability.

“It is a baffling exercise to imagine what the One Bermuda Alliance had been thinking when they had been willfully ignoring the needs of our children and our teachers,” he said, adding that Premier Michael Dunkley had disrespected teachers “who dared to stand up for their students, and their own health”.

Meantime, noting his party’s record on tourism and improving the economy, Premier Dunkley said it had “made progress in restoring jobs, opportunity and hope, but we still have a ways to go”, as he asked voters to give the OBA another term in office to continue its “broad program to progress Bermudian life”.

“Our mission is to extend the recovery and renewal into every household. Now, Burt and his colleagues have been trying to convince you that the choice in this election is between them and us, but the real choice is actually much simpler and much more important: Will Bermuda move forward or back?” he asked.

Poll suggests victory for Dunkley and OBA party

In an opinion poll published by the Royal Gazette newspaper over the weekend, half of the respondents said they would vote for the OBA, 39 percent preferred the PLP, 2 percent would vote for 1 of the 5 independent candidates, 6 percent were undecided; and 3 percent refused to say who they would vote for.

It indicated that Dunkley remains the most popular of the party leaders, with an increase in approval rating from 37 to 44 percent.
Burt has an approval rating of 29 percent, which is unchanged from the last poll in May.

Source: Caribbean 360