Bermuda announces date for by-election

A by-election will be held in the constituency of Devonshire North Central on February 4 to fill a vacancy following the retirement  of the opposition Progressive Labour Party’s (PLP) Glenn Blakeney .

On Tuesday, the Parliamentary Registrar announced that Governor George Fergusson had issued a writ of election for the constituency .

Blakeney, a radio station boss and cabinet minister in the former PLP administration, has stepped down for personal reasons.

In the December 2012 general election he narrowly won by 19 votes against the One Bermuda Alliance's (OBA) Anthony Francis.

The PLP, which fell 12 points below the OBA in a recent newspaper opinion poll, has been hit by internal strife with seven MPs , including Blakeney , quitting Opposition Leader Marc Bean's shadow cabinet in protest at his leadership style.

The PLP has named opposition Senate Leader Diallo Rabain as its by-election candidate, while the OBA will be represented by Andrew Simons, son of a former cabinet minister in the now defunct United Bermuda Party which was in power from 1968 until 1998.