Two Progressive Labour Party MPs broke with party ranks last night as a decades-long dispute over the municipal governance of Hamilton and St George’s neared its close.

The Municipalities Reform Act 2026 was approved 19 to 11 over opposition from the One Bermuda Alliance, with East End PLP MPs Lovitta Foggo and Renée Ming objecting on principle over the removal of governance for St George’s but ultimately choosing to abstain from the vote.

Government MPs Jamahl Simmons, Christopher Famous and Curtis Dickinson were also absent from voting, while all 11 OBA MPs opposed the Act.

The legislation was approved by 19 PLP MPs.

The move came more than 17 years after the PLP government announced in 2008 that the centuries-old corporations needed a significant overhaul.

The Act, which was tabled in the House of Assembly on February 27 by Zane DeSilva, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Housing and Municipalities, aims to abolish elections for both corporations, along with rewriting their 1923 legislation.

It allows the Government to appoint mayors and board members, rather than having them chosen by residents and taxpayers in the municipality.

Mr DeSilva, who opened the debate, said business owners had been able to vote in municipal elections since 1978.

He explained: “This government rejects the notion that the exercise of a fundamental democratic right should depend upon land ownership or commercial stake.

“There are no hybrid forms of democracy. The principle is simple and enduring: those who are governed by the laws must have a voice in shaping them.”

He said the legislation does not dissolve the corporations, but only changes how their representatives are selected.

“This reform ensures that municipalities and central government move forward together, not at cross purposes.”

Mr DeSilva added: “We cannot affirm one person, one vote in our general elections while accepting a different standard in municipal governments, that inconsistency ends here.”

Michael Fahy, the Shadow Minister of Housing and Municipalities, said the move amounted to disenfranchisement.

He added: “It’s one thing to say ‘one man, one vote’, but now there’s no men, no vote.

“People, whether they are residents or ratepayers, are now not having a direct democratic say in respect of those particular municipal rates and taxes that are going to be imposed upon them.”

Ms Ming served as a councillor and alderman in St George before being elected MP for Constituency 1 in 2017.

She told the House: “We’re living in a space and time right now where, as a people, we want to make more decisions, especially as it relates to our lives and what we do, and that seems to be changing.”

“So it would be very difficult for me to stand here today and say that I can support my people in St George especially, but I think about the other municipality as well, losing their right to choose who they want to represent them.”

Ms Foggo, MP for St David’s, said she was “strongly opposed” to centralised government.

She explained: “I think as a parliamentary and politician, that our actions should always be one that enhances and promotes democracy.”