The Progressive Labour Party’s decision to hold a General Election on February 18 will disenfranchise young people and is a choice that prioritises perceived political advantage over democracy and civic engagement. It is an ironic choice, considering the PLP’s urgent pleas to get young Bermudians to return to the island.

Over the past 20 years of mostly PLP governance, the Government has consistently neglected young people. Funds in the education budget have been mismanaged, widening the gap between public and private schools. Vulnerable young people are sent to mental health treatment facilities in the United States. There is no litigation guardian system, and hundreds of children have passed through the family courts without legal representation.

We are losing young people not just through emigration, but through an increase in violent crime brought on by the Government's failures. In 2024 alone, four young men under the age of 21 were murdered — four young men whose lives and futures should have been protected by our government.

Instead of policy, the PLP has presented us with a series of excuses and rhetorically charged op-eds that do nothing to alleviate the suffering of the people.

The past few years have been challenging for the PLP. The education system has collapsed with the Government’s constant flip-flopping on signature schools, and prisons are critically understaffed. The Bermudiana Beach Resort development has faced great scrutiny. The Bermuda Tourism Authority is imploding. The gaming commission is still collecting healthy salaries despite producing no results. Pati, arguably Bermuda’s most important democratic safeguarding mechanism, has been placed behind a paywall.

Homelessness has increased significantly, rising from 138 in 2016 to 811 in 2023 — a 488 per cent hike. Bermudians cannot afford to live in Bermuda, and people are leaving for greater opportunities elsewhere. The PLP is at its weakest politically, and calling an election now would only empower its core voter base — seniors — to remain pre-eminent in the next election.

Our politicians lack integrity and our democracy is rotten to its core. The mantra of “friends and family” is used instead of the word “cronyism”. Our political system has normalised practice that would be shamed anywhere else.

Take the case of Myron Simmons, the husband of former attorney-general Kathy Lynn Simmons, who was recently disbarred for professional misconduct. From April 2023 to February 2024, his Mr Simmons’s consulting company, Onyx Ltd, was given a government contract to advise on legal matters. This contract cost the taxpayer $20,833 per month. In 2022, the Supreme Court found that Mr Simmons had retained $52,000 of client money for his personal use and compelled him to repay the sum to the plaintiff alongside $18,000 in interest.

These misconduct issues of a serious nature were known to the Government, and on the public record. Additionally, concerning credibility, this law firm was incorporated only on March 9 2023, one month before the commencement of the government contract. Considering the facts, there are substantial reasons why this contract was inappropriate. If Myron Simmons was not the husband of the attorney-general, would the Government have granted a contract to a law firm with no trading history headed by someone held civilly liable for misappropriating client funds? Rampant cronyism continues to go unchecked to the detriment of the Bermudian taxpayer.

Choosing to study or obtain work experience overseas should not preclude someone from exercising their democratic right to vote. This is the second time that the PLP has called a General Election when university students would be excluded — the 2020 election took place on October 1 during university term time. Many young Bermudians have never voted in a General Election, as the country lacks an absentee-voting system.

The PLP holds a strong majority at present, but elections can be won on marginal differences. In the most recent British election, Hendon and Poole swung to Labour by 15 and 18 votes respectively. Similarly, the constituency of Chelsea and Fulham swung by a mere 150 votes. Take for example the recent Sandys North by-election, where the PLP marginally retained its seat by 54 votes, winning only 35 per cent of the vote share. In the 2020 General Election, the PLP received 59 per cent of the vote share in that constituency. The political times are changing, and the PLP knows this. This election is a desperate attempt to cling to its waning power.

Older Bermudians have a role to play here as well. Despite being the PLP’s core base, they are also disadvantaged by PLP policy. The party leans into the politics of fear to motivate older people to go to the polls while simultaneously doing nothing to improve living conditions for the island's seniors. The government pension is pitifully low, with the maximum pension rate being $1,713 per month. The average cost of rent in Bermuda far exceeds this, not including the price of electricity, which is a convenient time to mention Wayne Caines, president of Belco and a government MP — at least for the time being. The interests of the people of Bermuda and the shareholders of Belco are in clear conflict. Mr Caines actively benefits from higher electricity bills, as this means increased profits for Belco and Liberty.

There seems to be one group of Bermudians who do not struggle to find jobs and opportunities — the political elite class. The PLP has convinced older Bermudians that our country’s inequalities can be attributed exclusively to racial disparities. Race is a sensitive issue in Bermuda. Many older Bermudians can remember segregation as well as the bus boycotts. The anger and fear that the older generations feel is legitimate and should not be minimised. But it also should not be used for political gain, which is what the PLP does.

The party which stands to benefit from the continuance of racial inequality in Bermuda is the Progressive Labour Party. Every five years, it uses this fear to catapult itself to power. The PLP has been in power for 20 of the past 25; why hasn’t it put forward reparations legislation? Why hasn’t it worked to address the matter of pay discrimination? Why has the public education system, which serves the majority of the Black population, been run to ruin? The public appetite for racial reform is high and nothing is being brought to the table.

Kakistocracy is the only term which can be used to describe the incumbent government. Our country is being run by the least capable, and it isn’t even good at disguising its own corruption. It is done open and shamelessly, like someone chewing with their mouth open at the dinner table. What Bermuda needs is a credible and transparent government. The power that the Government holds comes from the people, and now more than ever it is clear that the Bermudian people deserve better. The ruling party is not fit for purpose, and its anti-democratic tendencies should be opposed in all forms.

In the past few years, young Bermudians have become more and more politically active. Several grass roots organisations have sprung up attempting to address glaring holes in government policy and increase youth engagement with politics. Bermuda Is Love and Bermuda Youth Connect are two organisations that come to mind. If the PLP wants to incentivise young people to return home, it must respect the youth vote. What is most upsetting is the timing of this. Many young Bermudians have become eligible to vote for the first time and will not be able to exercise that right.

I obtained the right to vote nearly six years ago and this is the second General Election that I will be barred from voting because of the election being called during university term time. If the winning party of this election remains in power throughout its term, my first vote in a Bermuda election would be when I am 28, alongside many of my peers who were also barred from voting in the last election. This means that there will be a ten-year gap between my democratic right to vote arising, and it being exercised. This will always be a problem because Bermuda doesn’t have any universities, meaning that until a mail-in voting system exists political parties will be able to exclude the youth from civic participation.

Preventing young Bermudians from voting should concern all of us if the legitimate aim of democracy is to create a government that is representative of the will of the people. February 18 is good for the PLP, but is yet another example of the incumbent government putting what is best for the party before what is best for the country.

On February 18, Bermudians will have a choice to make. The status quo is not working, and the PLP’s political machine has run out of oil and is clanking down the road. To those of you who will be able to vote in the incoming election, you have an immense responsibility placed upon your shoulders. I implore you to vote with the interests of the youth in mind — the future of our country, whom the government has ignored and disenfranchised once again.

• Asha Symons is an aspiring lawyer who graduated from Durham University in 2022 with a degree in anthropology before completing a Law Conversion at King’s College London. She is living in London and completing the Solicitors Qualifying Examination