PLP MP Dale Butler yesterday became the first candidate in Bermuda to publicly declare which constituency he will run in the forthcoming election.

The Warwick East MP advertised in The Royal Gazette yesterday to inform voters he will be standing in the new single seat Constituency 25 in Warwick if the new seats drawn up by the Boundaries Commission are, as expected, approved by the British Government.

Mr. Butler said last night that his running mate in Warwick East, Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott, has been selected to stand in constituency 24, although the Progressive Labour Party has not yet made an official announcement about any of its candidates. Mr. Butler said he placed the advertisement because he had already sent out mailings to voters in Constituency 24, where he expected to be selected.

He insisted yesterday that he did not know of any other candidates who had been selected and he had no knowledge of when Premier Jennifer Smith would call the next election. But he had a history of always beginning campaigning early, dating back from the 1981 and 1998 elections.

"I can't be responsible for what's happening in the rest of the country, I am only responsible for Warwick," he said. "I've never been one to wait for an announcement. My plan has always been to start early. You have to or you can get left behind."

He said he had been walking the constituency since the Boundaries Commission report was published last year and would be out canvassing last night. He didn't believe campaigning would turn off voters, however. "They complain when you don't come and they complain when you do. That's the Bermudian way," he said.