Jarion Richardson’s decision to step down as leader of the One Bermuda Alliance will come as a surprise to many in the wider community.

Mr Richardson, who became OBA leader in August 2023, led the party to an improved performance in the February General Election, where the party added four seats, having recaptured one more through a defection from the Progressive Labour Party before the vote.

The Paget West MP — he plans to continue to serve in the House after he formally vacates the leadership in September — deserves credit for continuing the rebuilding of the OBA begun under Cole Simons after the 2020 General Election debacle when the party was reduced to six seats.

There’s no doubt that it is in a better place in terms of organisation and structure than it was five years ago, and it is also a more forceful and aggressive opposition in and out of parliament than it was before February.

In part, that is simply a result of having more numbers — having six MPs attempting to juggle more than a dozen shadow portfolios was always a tall order. It is not easy with 11, but it is much more possible.

It is not entirely clear why Mr Richardson decided to step down when it appears that the OBA had a high level of momentum.

He had admitted he considered resigning immediately after the General Election, but he has given it more time. He is also right to note that leading a political party is time-consuming, and he wants to give more time to his family and career.

Only the most churlish would dismiss that desire, and it also demonstrates why Bermuda struggles to bring the best and brightest into politics. Too many look at the family cost, relatively low financial rewards and the level of personal abuse — and decide it is not worth it. That is true for both sides of the political divide.

Nonetheless, it is disappointing that Mr Richardson has chosen to step down now, at a time when his party is on the rise and he has presumably digested many of the hard lessons of political leadership.

That is not to say that his tenure was perfect. It can be argued that the OBA, while unlikely to win power in February, could have conjure at least two more seats.

Its failure to win two former strongholds — Warwick West and Pembroke West — came in part because strong independent candidates took away more of its supporters than they did from the PLP. If that’s the case, the OBA has to ask if it could have done more to blunt the threat of third parties and independents under Mr Richardson’s leadership.

This year, for the first time in Bermuda’s electoral history, more people voted against the eventual winner than for it. That demonstrated a high level of dissatisfaction with the PLP government, and the OBA should have been able to craft a more compelling policy package and message to persuade more people to vote red.

For the all the good Mr Richardson has done, some of the responsibility for that must lie with him.

That problem — and it still exists — will be a challenge now for his successor, and no doubt there will be plenty of speculation and jockeying in the month to come for that position. It is premature to speculate on that, but it is to be hoped that there will be an actual contest and a healthy and constructive debate to determine what the OBA stands for, how it will fight an election and how it will govern.

The next leader still has plenty of work to do.

They must continue to build up the party’s structures on the foundations laid by Mr Simons and Mr Richardson, attracting members and building up the branches so it can fight every constituency.

The new leader also needs to attract stronger candidates with national credibility and appeal. It needs a slate of proven candidates who would look comfortable in Cabinet and representing Bermuda on the world stage.

To do that, the party needs to make sure its principles and core beliefs are well understood and compelling.

This remains a challenge for the OBA. People are still not sure what it stands for and it will be the biggest job for any leadership candidate — to describe the philosophy and policies that they want to offer to the country, and the kind of island they want to build.

The leadership candidate who does that best should win.