Very few people enter politics to sit in opposition. The goal of almost all politicians is to enter government so they can implement the ideas they have to improve people’s lives. To that end, people of like minds come together in political parties in order to win elections and gain power. Party members and leaders will not agree on every issue or approach. But they will generally agree on enough to form a coherent vision of governance and to set out a series of policies.

This is especially so in a Westminster style of government, whose first-past-the-post system of electing Members of Parliament from individual constituencies tends to force voters to choose from two main parties.

In that sense, politicians who are not in government by necessity must come together if they wish to oust the existing government and take power.

For evidence of what happens when an opposition is fractured, look no further than the 2025 General Election, when more than half of voters cast ballots for candidates other than the Progressive Labour Party, which nonetheless won a majority of seats and formed the government.

That’s what happens when opposition parties are fractured. The One Bermuda Alliance, Free Democratic Movement and the group of independent candidates broadly led by the late Sir John Swan divided the vote, enabling the PLP to win the election.

That’s the way the system works, and of course it cannot be said that all of those voters would automatically vote for a unified opposition. Nonetheless, what can be said with a great deal of certainty is that a divided opposition will find it nearly impossible to win power.

That is what is concerning about Robert King’s departure from the OBA this week. Mr King’s decision to sit as an Independent is not much of a surprise. Forced out as leader seven months ago, he has clearly diverged from his party and feels a deep sense of grievance and betrayal about his ouster.

In that sense, his departure was perhaps inevitable. But it begs the question of how the different strands of the opposition can ever hope to come together in order to mount a challenge to the PLP.

This is important because a strong opposition is vital to the functioning of a democracy. It is the Opposition that must hold the government to account and must give voice to people and concerns which the government will otherwise ignore.

It is important for the public to have an alternative vision of government, and for a responsive government to see ideas outside of its own word that may make sense. That cannot happen when the Opposition is divided and does not bring the best minds to bear.

More narrowly, Mr King will face a difficult time in the House of Assembly, purely by being one individual who must face two party machines. Independents of all stripes have had trouble being heard and being able to move legislation or policies forward.

He also has a tricky philosophical quandary to bridge. He ran twice for the OBA against Sir John, who was an independent, in addition to running to become leader of the OBA. He now states that Sir John was right — Bermuda politics is broken, and the only option is to be an independent politician.

This damascene conversion, coming only a few months after Mr King lost the leadership, will look like sour grapes to some. Other voters will feel let down because they voted for Mr King as a member of the OBA. Had they wanted an independent to represent them, they would have voted for Sir John.

So Mr King will have his work cut out to regain the confidence of his constituents should he wish to be re-elected.

That may prove to be less difficult for Mr King than it would have been for others; he has been a hard-working constituency MP and seems to have a solid base of supporters in Smith’s North.

The broader issue remains, however. Ben Smith, the Leader of the Opposition, has still to have his leadership confirmed by a membership that rejected him a year ago. Some of those members will presumably follow Mr King out the door, but that means Mr Smith still has a great deal of work to do to show that he can unify and expand his party.

Just as Mr King had to bear some responsibility for failing to get the OBA’s MPs behind him after he upset the party establishment and became leader, so Mr Smith’s failure to keep Mr King in the party does not redound well on him.

It may be that such an arrangement was never going to work, but the fact remains that Mr Smith has so far only succeeded in shrinking his party group when growth is what is needed if the OBA, or any opposition grouping, is to make a genuine stab at winning a general election.