Opposition leader accuses premier of election ‘power trip’
HAMILTON (CMC):
PPOSITION LEADER Craig Cannonier has accused Premier David Burt of embarking on a “personal power trip” in calling a snap general election next month, despite holding a commanding 11-seat majority in the House of Assembly.
Cannonier hit out at Burt – who became Bermuda’s youngest premier at the age of 38 when he led the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) to victory over the One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) at the polls in 2017 – for calling the election “in the middle of a pandemic”.
The PLP, which narrowly lost to the OBA in the 2012 election, stormed to victory by 24 seats to 12 five years later and added an additional seat in a 2018 by-election in Warwick North East. The next election was not
Odue until 2022.
When he called the snap election on August 21, Burt said it would help the island to focus on rebuilding its battered economy, as the national debt is approaching US$3 billion, and creating more opportunities for Bermudians.
But Cannonier fired back at Burt on Wednesday, saying: “That’s not leadership, guys. That’s mobilising your troops for your own personal power trip.”
Cannonier also revealed that an unnamed OBA candidate had attended a function where one of the guests later tested positive for COVID-19. There have been 172 confirmed cases of the disease in Bermuda, including nine deaths.
He said: “Now that candidate has to be quarantined and can’t go out (to canvass).”
People in quarantine will not be allowed to attend polling stations to vote in the election on October 1.
The Parliamentary Registrar warned voters to prepare if they planned to be overseas at the end of the month.
Four of the OBA’s 11 members of parliament (MPs) have so far announced their retirement from politics. One PLP MP has retired.