The Free Democratic Movement (FDM) is the newest of the three

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. It was founded by former Progressive Labour Party leader Marc Bean in September 2020 to contest the 2020 Bermudian general election on October 1, 2020. It fielded 14 candidates for the 36-seat legislature, winning no seats and placing second in 4 races, with 5% of the vote.

Policies

Bean identifies as a

classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, eco ...

. The FDM's policies include: * Individual rights * Limited government * Equality * Subsidiarity * Spontaneous order * Property rights * Honesty among citizens (aka 'The Golden Rule') In the area of education, the FDM wants to downsize the Department of Education to improve efficiency, introduce a school voucher system as well as an independent system to monitor the performance of schools, and devolve control of what schools teach to educators. Among other issues, the FDM wants to abolish taxes on sugar and dividends, and has stated its neutrality to same-sex marriage. The party did not have any published activity after the 2020 election until 2024, when leader Marc Bean announced that the party intended to "re-emerge", although he did not commit to leading the party into the next elections. In October 2024, Bean stood for the FDM in the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for Sandys North, coming in second to Emily Gail Dill, who polled 162 votes, to 108 for Bean, 95 for independent candidate Ci’re Bean, and 91 for Carl Neblett of the One Bermuda Alliance.

Party leaders

Election results

References

External links

Official website
{{Bermuda topics Political parties in Bermuda Liberal parties in dependent territories of the United Kingdom Liberal parties in North America Political parties established in 2020 2020 establishments in Bermuda Classical liberal parties