Issue #229: Bermuda's History from Apartheid to Democracy

Today, voters in the tropical archipelago of Bermuda are going to the polls to elect the 36 members their legislature. The series of islands, home to 60,000 residents, is a largely self-governing British Overseas Territory. Bermuda, located in the middle of the Atlantic, is a popular vacation destination for Americans and Europeans. For most Americans, mentioning Bermuda may be followed by hearing a Beach Boys song in their head.

Bermuda’s politics is something I covered back in 2020. Amid COVID lockdown, I decided to spend part of my September really digging into the history of Bermuda and its elections. The tale of Bermuda’s transition from slavery, to apartheid, and to democracy is often overlooked.

I am going to cover historic moments here, but for a much more detailed accounting, I recommend my 2020 article.

Bermuda: From Invisible Apartheid to Democracy

For this newsletter, I will cover the important points from Bermuda’s history. With that, I am setting the stage for the election happening today. Then expect a follow-up post election results.

With that, lets divide in.

Bermuda’s History & Demographics

The islands area we now called Bermuda were uninhabited until Spanish explores first came across them in 1505. However, it was not until the 1600s that British explores landed on and began settling the islands. The region became a good middle-way point in the Atlantic sea trips. The islands were initially made part of the Virginia territory as part of the Virginia Company charter. Of course Bermuda is around 800 miles from modern Virginia.

It was not long after the settling of the islands that slaves began to brought in. These includes African slaves, Caribbean slaves, and Native American slaves. Racial hierarchies were established similar to the American South; with the non-white population viewed as racially inferior. This did not stop mixed-race relationships from forming, however.

Slavery in Bermuda was also notably less harsh than in the American South. Slaves often worked in the shipping industry and were compensated for their work, though their owners got an average of 2/3 the wage. This was still much more preferable to the chattel-slavery of much of the American South – where humanity for the slaves was a non-factor. One major result of this was that Bermuda experienced few slave revolts – especially in comparison to the Americas and other islands.

When slavery was abolished in the British empire, Bermuda was majority non-white. The “Coloured” population - a catch all for anyone not white - was over half.

Today the nation remains majority not-white. The 2016 Census put Black residents at 52% vs whites at 31%.

Here the term “Black” is the self-selected phrase most non-white longtime residents have opted to use. I go into this more in my detailed article, but plenty of internal debate has gone on within the non-white population about ethnic identify, especially sense many Black families have some degree of mixed-race marriage histories.

The Invisible Apartheid of Bermuda

After the end of slavery in the 1830s in Bermuda, the nation evolved into what has been described as an “Invisible Apartheid.” Bermuda operated similar to the American South in that it had separation of races and white supremacy, it was a notably less violent version. The proximity of people was a major factor here. With everyone living in such close quarters, violence erupting was likely to lead to ruin for all sides. Instead, white control came from economic powers. With the white population controlling economic life, Black/Coloured residents found it unwise to rock the boat to much pushing for civic and election reforms.

Voting for the local legislature was restricted to ensure white rule. Property requirements for voting became the norm after the abolishment of slavery. The property value requirement was notoriously high, too high for any small plot of land a Black resident may have. On top of this, property valuators would often boost the value of white land to ensure their tract met the requirement. Meanwhile, Black estates that met the threshold were undervalued to prevent voting. In total, only 7% of the Black population of Bermuda could vote in the era pre-1960s.

The 1960s saw debates and reform efforts to expand voting access. The white leaders knew they could not maintain the status quo. The British Government wanted Bermuda to engage in self-rule with stronger democratic principles. Meanwhile, Civil Rights Activists from America were pushing for Bermuda’s Black majority to aggressively push changes. Amid this this, the Progressive Labor Party formed as the opposition to the white status quo rule. Meanwhile the United Bermuda Party was formed by the white leaders.

In 1966, Bermuda worked with the British Government to draft a home-rule constitution. The island would be divided into 20 two-member districts. Voting would be for anyone 21 and up and have no property requirements. Registration to vote would have to be renewed, expiring after one year. With this agreement, Bermuda would enter a new era of self-government and with formal party politics.

Home Rule and UBP Dominance

With fairer elections approaching, the white leaders of the nation knew they needed to forge an electoral coalition to remain in power.

Here the early leaders of the United Bermuda Party worked to forge an image as the “post racial party”. Knowing that race-baiting and white supremacy wouldn’t work in a country that was not majority white, the UBP aimed to frame themselves as responsible stewards who supported racial equality. They proclaimed support for removing any remaining legal segregation. The goal for the party was to forge a coalition of white residents and middle-class Black residents. It was very much the party of the longtime status quo, but with a call to move beyond formal segregation.

The Progressive Labor Party, meanwhile, was divided into two camps. One side favored a left-of-center approach to appeal to all working class voters. The other was made up of more hardened left-wing members who wanted to push a more stringent Black-focused messaging that would be more antagonistic to the white population. This second view was especially popular with the Caribbean population that had migrated to the island in recent decades. Having been brought into Bermuda to do lower-skilled work, these residents had nothing but negative association with the white business community. However, within the rest of the Black community, the association with White residents were more mixed and varied by class and personal connections.

When the first home rule elections took place in 1968, it saw the UBP easily win the most seats: 30 to 10. The UBP navigated the 1970s by continuing to adopt post-racial language while generally maintaining a center or right-of-center policy position. In 1971, the UBP elevated Edward Richards to leader, and hence Premier; making him the first Black premier of Bermuda. Under his leadership, the UBP secured 62% of the vote in the 1972 elections.

The early elections set up a standard narrative in Bermuda. The UBP was the post-racial party and let anyone in and the PLP was a bunch of racial militants. The narrative was furthered by Black residents being incentivized to join the UBP, which could open up more economic doors and society opportunities. Meanwhile, whenever a white resident aligned with the PLP, they faced scorn and shunning from their white neighbors.

By the mid 1970s, the PLP was working to move away from more revolutionary language; including dropping focus on pushing independence from the UK. The PLP would be instrumental in protest movements to address continued inequalities in pay and services when it came to Black residents. The response from the UBP was often to make the changes being called for, hence removing them as electoral issues for the PLP.

The closest the PLP got to a majority was in the 1980 elections; which came as Bermuda suffered under a recession caused by worldwide economic factors. The race saw more Black consolidation around PLP, but also support from younger white residents.

The close call for the UBP saw them simply change course. They ditched their white leader at the time and made John Swan, who is Black, their new Premier. Meanwhile, the local media, biased toward the UBP, downplayed stories of whites supporting the PLP and continued to push a narrative that only the UBP was a post-racial party.

Swan would lead the UBP through the 1980s. After more losses in 1983, the PLP would fracture and a third party would break off; only serving to divide the anti-UBP vote.

The PLP Rise and UBP Fall

In 1985, Frederick Wade was elected leader of the PLP and began major efforts to build the party. Wade focused on party rebuilding and trying to heal the internal divide. In addition, the party began to make more efforts to appeal to middle class voters and build support with a younger generation less bound to the allegiances of the 1960s parties. Under his leadership, the party began to rebound and in 1993 lost by just 4%; the best showing sense 1980.

The UBP, meanwhile, began to fracture internally. John Swan was forced out as party leader in 1995 amid tension over - and I am not joking - an independence referendum and a McDonald’s franchise. That’s right, and nope I’m going to give you no more information. Go read my detailed history for the explanation. With UBP divided and PLP at its strongest in modern history, 1998 saw a historic win for the Progressive Labour Party.

The historic PLP win led to Jennifer Meredith Smith, who took over the PLP after Wade passed away a few years earlier, becoming the first PLP Premier of Bermuda.

With this victory, the PLP worked to make several reforms to the elections of the country. One issue that the PLP had long taken issue with was the two-member constituencies. This breakdown often did not account for proper population distributions and implicitly aided the white minority. The PLP had long staked out support for single-member constituencies while the UBP favored the current system. Both parties did stipulate it was the right of the winner to offer reform to this system. As such, the PLP did move to change elections to single-member constituencies. The territory would go to to be divided into 36 districts; resulting in 4 fewer MPs after the next scheduled elections. The PLP also eliminated the one-year expiration of voter registration and passed laws to increase the types of ID’s that would be valid for voting. These changes and constitutional amendments were subsequently approved by the British Government.

The PLP would win re-elections in 2003 and 2007. However, internal divides, namely driven by personality clashes, took place through this era. I document that more in my detailed overview.

A very heated 2007 election saw race come up in ways not seen before. The PLP then was led by Ewart Brown, who pushed more openly that the PLP was the party of the black majority; citing accusations coming from black former UBP members that the party was still controlled by white business leaders. Here the history of the UBP as the party of the business class that ruled the islands came back to hurt then. The UBP’s 1970s image of the ‘mature guiding hand’ fell away with generational change. The PLP would win the election by 5% but with far more seats.

After the 2007 election, which saw UBP leader Michael Dunkley lose his own seat, the party began to fracture. In 2009, six UBP members (4 black, 2 white) defected from the party and formed the Bermuda Democratic Alliance party; stating new opposition to the PLP was needed. After bye-election results showed that the BDA and UBP was just splitting the same voter pool, an agreed merger was set up. This eventually led to the formation of the One Bermuda Alliance as a new opposition party. The OBA inherited the UBP’s coalition.

The new OBA faced off with the PLP in the 2012 elections. These came as Bermuda continued to suffered economic downturns as a result of the Great Recession. Thanks to voters unhappy with the economy, the OBA won the election by just two seats. OBA leader Craig Cannonier, a Black MP, became the new premier.

Over the next few years, the economy would begin to turn around in Bermuda as tourism improved. However, the OBA was hurt by several issues and scandals. In 2014, Premier Cannonier was forced to resign when it was revealed that he and other OBA members had flown on a private jet to meet US businessman Nathan Landow and subsequently secured $300,000 in funding to run the OBA’s 2012 campaign. While the OBA insisted no strings were attached, it was well known Landow wanted to build a casino on the island.

With Cannonier out, the OBA tapped Michael Dunkley, the former UBP leader who had lost his seat in 2007 (and subsequently won a seat in 2012). The selection did not help the OBA, however, as they had handed the party to the leader of an old party and one of the richest white men in the territory.

The PLP would go into the next election with Edward David Burt as its leader. The 2017 campaign saw the OBA campaign on the improved economy while the PLP argued that “Two Bermuda’s” saw the improvements differently – as recovery had not come to all residents. The election also saw the PLP take on a more populist and protectionist stance while the OBA took on a free-trade and globalist position. The PLP, however, retained a more left-of-center domestic spending position than the OBA’s right-of-center stances. In the end, PLP easily took back control.

In 2020, Bermuda’s government opted to call a snap election for that October. The election was to be a referendum on the nation’s handling of COVID, which was already leading to a massive collapse of tourism to the islands. Premier Burt also stated that the tough decisions that laid ahead warranted fresh elections for each side to put forward their vision.

Burt also knew that this was a chance to rack up a massive majority. The OBA was not in a strong position to campaign. In addition to struggling to find its footing after the previous scandals, the OBA was hurt by the emergence of a new party. The Free Democratic Movement Party, founded by Marc Bean, was contesting the 2020 elections. Bean was actually a PLP leader from 2012 to 2017, but comes from the right-wing of the party. As such, many expected his presence to eat more into the OBA than the PLP.

The election results provided to be the landslide many predicted. The PLP secured 62% of the vote and 30 of 36 seats. An absolute blowout.

I dive more into the 2020 campaign in my main article. The FDM did indeed take more from the OBA than they did the PLP.

The 2025 Campaign

Little is really in doubt when it comes to this next round of elections. Everyone expects the PLP to remain firmly in the lead when all the votes come in. The real drama has revolved around the opposition. The OBA and FDM are contesting seats on top of a slew of independent candidates. With the nation’s first-past-the-post system, this only helps the PLP.

The PLP is further helped by lack of real scandal. There are complaints to be leveled as PLP rule. However, the PLP is clearly in a state of dominance that was similar to the UBP back in the 1970s and 1980s.

Few doubt a PLP win is coming today. What I intend to watch is where their support drops and where united opposition could have made a difference. In the coming days I will have an newsletter looking in more detail on the 2025 campaign and how the results shook out.

We will see just how much the PLP has cemented themselves as the dominant party in Bermuda.