One Bermuda Alliance

One Bermuda Alliance
Party Leader	Sen. Craig Cannonier
Deputy Leader	Sen. Michael Dunkley
Party Chairman	Thad Hollis
Founded	17 May 2011
Headquarters	Reid Street, Hamilton, Bermuda
Website	http://www.oba.bm

The One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) is a political party in Bermuda. It is a result of a May 2011 merger of most members of Bermuda's two main opposition parties, the United Bermuda Party and the Bermuda Democratic Alliance.

History

The United Bermuda Party (UBP) was founded in 1964 and won every Bermuda election until 1998 when it lost to the Progressive Labour Party. It remained the official opposition party until 2011.

The Bermuda Democratic Alliance (BDA) was formed in 2009 by breakaway members of the UBP that believed that only a new party could win support from the PLP. It contested one by-election in December 2010, placing third behind the PLP and UBP, with the PLP retaining about the same support level that it had in the 2007 general election.^[1] Concern that vote-splitting among the two opposition parties would result in an easy victory for the governing PLP prompted the BDA and UBP to enter merger talks.

The initial intention of UBP and BDA negotiators was to formally merge the two parties,^[2] but when UBP leader Kim Swan sought an injunction to block the merger, seven sitting MPs of the UBP quit their former party and joined the three BDA members to become Bermuda's new official opposition on May 17, 2011. ^[3]

The party held its inaugural leadership convention on September 10, 2011, where the former BDA leader, Senator Craig Cannonier, narrowly won the party leadership over challenger Everard T. (Bob) Richards, the party's shadow finance minister.^[4]

Everard T. (Bob) Richards, have made several unsuccessful attempts to become leader of the UBP and the now UBP/OBA, with no success.

Policies

The party's slogan is "Putting Bermuda First." Its policies include:

• balancing the budget in its first term
• cutting Ministerial pay by at least 10%
• allocating more government contracts to small business
• additional reasources for police
• introducing a fully integrated technical curriculum and a longer school day
• having fixed term elections, right to petition for referendums and recall of MPs

Party Leaders

	Entered office	Left office
John Barritt (interim)	May 2011	September 2011
Craig Cannonier	September 2011

References

1. ^ [http://bermudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=24&subsectionID=901&articleID=49623 Bermuda Sun (Dec. 15, 2010)
2. ^ Royal Gazette (May 2, 2011)
3. ^ Bermuda Sun (May 16, 2011)
4. ^ Bermuda Sun (Sept. 11, 2011)

External links

• Official website