In 1789, Parliament passed an Act which stipulated a uniform property qualification in general elections for voters and candidates, who had to own real estate valued at £40 and £200 respectively. In 1834, shortly before


emancipation became a reality in Bermuda and throughout the remainder of Great Britain’s colonies, the property values for voting and running for a seat in Parliament were virtually doubled to ensure the perpetuation of the status quo in matters of government.


Following the passage of a similar measure in Great Britain, legislation was enacted which introduced the secret ballot in Bermuda in 1874, a change which effectively reduced the potential for recrimination and reprisal often associated with open voting. In 1883, Mr William H. T. Joell, running as a candidate for Pembroke Parish and benefiting from the support given to him by the Pembroke Parish Political Association, was elected as Bermuda’s first black


representative in the House of Assembly.


In two successive years (1895/1896), Bills formulated with the intent of extending the property-based vote to women passed the House of Assembly, but were rejected by the Legislative Council on both occasions.


The Bermuda Woman’s Suffrage Society, encouraged by the earlier successes of the suffragette movements in Great Britain and the United States, was launched in Bermuda in 1923. After unstinting efforts and a number of setbacks, the Society finally realized its key objective of equal gender representation in 1944, when the franchise was extended to property-owning women of 21 years and over. The general election of 1948 resulted in Mrs Hilda Aitken and Mrs Edna Watson becoming the first two women to be elected to


the House of Assembly, representing the parishes of Smith’s and Paget respectively. In 1960, the Committee for Adult Suffrage (CUAS),


spearheaded by Roosevelt Brown (now known as Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego) and others, was formed primarily for achieving the objectives of extending the franchise to all adults aged 21 and over, the establishment of single- seat constituencies (with, as near as possible, equal numbers of voters) and of abolishing the property vote, which entitled landowners to cast ballots in every parish constituency where they possessed real estate assessed at or above the required statutory level.


In 1883, Mr William H. T. Joell...was elected as Bermuda’s first black representative in the House of Assembly.


The Parliamentary Election Act of 1963 gave every adult aged 25 and above the right to vote, but also allowed landowners who possessed accepted rateable property anywhere in Bermuda to cast a second or “plus” vote in the constituencies in which they lived. The legislation also retained the parishes as electoral districts, which were now divided into two constituencies (i.e. 18 in total), each returning two elected candidates to Bermuda’s Legislature.


There was also a section in the legislation which permitted the inclusion in the electorate of non- Bermudian British subjects who had been in the islands for a minimum of three years and had


satisfied the age requirement for voting. Sixteen years later, a decision was reached at the Warwick Camp Constitutional Conference to deny this privilege to those non-Bermudian British subjects arriving after 1 May 1976. On the other hand, those non- Bermudian British subjects who had been registered on or before that date were allowed to retain their voting rights.


The “plus” vote was abolished in 1966 and the voting age was lowered to 21. In addition, Pembroke, in view of its large population, was divided into four electoral districts each returning two elected candidates, a change which effectively increased the number of House of Assembly seats from 36 to 40.


Legislation passed in 1989 and scheduled to become effective on 1 January 1990 lowered the voting age to 18. The change was in keeping with a decision made at the 1979 constitutional conference, which permitted statutory reductions in the qualifying voting age down to a minimum of 18 years.


In July 2003, following changes to Bermuda’s constitution, the general election took place under a revised format of 36 single-seat constituencies, configured in accordance with the natural, as opposed to the parish boundaries of Bermuda. The number of potential voters in all


constituencies varied somewhat, but came very close to achieving the ideal formula of an equal number of voters for each constituency.


Structure of Bermuda’s Legislature


Under Bermuda’s Constitution, the Legislature consists of Her Majesty the Queen (represented by the governor), the Upper House (the Senate) and the Lower House (the House of Assembly). The main functions of the Legislature are to pass laws regulating the life of the country, to make finances available


for the needs of government and to act as a forum for the public debate of issues of importance to the community. By custom, all proceedings of either House are open to the public, and since 1991 debates in the House of Assembly and the Senate have been broadcast over the radio. The House of Assembly consists of 36 members, one of whom is elected by parliamentary colleagues to serve as the Speaker (Presiding Officer). The Senate has 11 members, all of whom are appointed by the governor - five on the recommendation of the Premier, three on the


recommendation of the opposition leader and three (referred to as independents) by the governor acting in his own discretion. Like the House of Assembly, the Upper House has a presiding officer, by convention an independent elected by his colleagues to serve as the president of the senate. A deputy speaker and a vice- president are also chosen by their peers to substitute for the presiding officers in the event of illness or absence or to provide welcome relief during lengthy debates.


How Legislation is passed Bills fall into three different categories - Public Bills, Private Members’ Bills and Private Bills. Under the Constitution, both Houses can introduce legislation, but the traditional and time- honoured practice is for the House of Assembly to table and pass legislative initiatives before they are dealt with at the Senate level. Most of these fall into the category of Public Bills and are promoted by the government through its Ministers, who are vested with the responsibility for piloting legislation directly relating to their respective Ministries through Parliament. Occasionally, a Member of Parliament who is not a Minister (backbencher) will table a Private Member’s Bill dealing with an area he/she wishes to be addressed.


The Parliamentarian | 2009: Issue One - Bermuda | 43


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