Dear Sir,

I don’t know where to address a letter to Sir John Swan, so I thought this the best way for him to know my thoughts and feelings.

I would like to thank you for your long-term dedication and service to Bermuda. You have the admiration and respect of so many Bermudians and it is well-deserved. I can only assume that you are back and involved in politics because you care deeply for our country and want what is best for her and for us. In the upcoming election, I would like the opportunity to vote for you but I don’t live in Smith’s North.

That said, I also wish that you would reconsider your intention to run and to support a slate of independent candidates. Quite simply, I am worried that your plan will split the opposition vote and create a scenario where the Progressive Labour Party is re-elected with small margins.

The last national polling I saw had the PLP at 26 per cent; the last by-election had the ruling party at 35 per cent but with an amazing candidate who is well-liked in her constituency. In any other year, with those numbers and the discontent in Bermuda — nearly 75 per cent considering leaving the island — the PLP would be out on its ear.

But I surmise that the reason David Burt called an election now is that he knows the only way he can win is with a three or four-way vote split. Otherwise, the Premier’s stuck at 35 per cent or below and he gets electorally crushed.

The simple maths for me is this: if you and a slate of independent candidates run, the opposition can’t coalesce behind one candidate. The 65 per cent, 70 per cent or 75 per cent of Bermudians who want the PLP gone for the damage that it has done to our home split their vote and the PLP comes up the middle.

Sir John, if you, like me, think that we need to see the back of David Burt and his government, at least until the next election, I implore you to find a way to make sure the opposition vote is enough to send him to the sin-bin.

JOLENE MAYBURY

Boston, Massachusetts