Premiership candidate Terry Lister says rival Paula Cox's supporters have been applauding her for holding her election campaign largely behind closed doors.

But the former Energy Minister claims his public canvassing — including a series of town hall meetings across the Island — means he'd have a mandate of the people if successful at next month's leadership contest.

And Mr. Lister says his feedback indicates it's now a much closer race than when the Finance Minister launched her campaign as a hot favourite with the Progressive Labour Party delegates eight weeks ago.

Some PLP members have claimed they've been put under pressure not to attend Mr. Lister's meetings, while others say they've heard criticism of his public approach, although nobody has suggested this action has come from Ms Cox herself.

"This campaign was to open the whole democratic process up. It was always about democracy," Mr. Lister told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

"I understand at one meeting, a member stood up and told Ms Cox, 'I'm so proud of you for not having public meetings and not taking it to the public'.

"That confuses me. Why not be proud of taking it to Bermuda? All 65,000 people are affected. Not all 65,000 can vote, but why not take it to them and talk to them?"

Ms Cox is said to have been very busy behind the scenes with potential PLP delegates who will decide between the pair and backbencher Dale Butler at the party's annual conference.

But Mr. Lister argues it's as important to spend time with those who cannot vote, saying: "Family members who won't get a vote do have a say around the dinner table.

"There are members in the PLP who want this to be an internal thing and feel that's how it should be.

"After the election is won we are going to open this party up as much as possible to more and more people.

"We are under threat right now in that the true hard-core supporters in the party are not as many as they should be. That may be because of the way we conduct ourselves.

"My goal is to grow the party, grow branch functioning from Somerset to St. David's."

He said his town hall approach had been extremely effective in getting his ideas across and pooling suggestions from all sections of the public.

"When a leader leaves midterm, often the Opposition will cry out that the mandate leaves with them," he said.

"I have engaged the public for 16 hours, discussed just about every area of Government. I have gone to each area with a topic; people have offered a lot of ideas.

"I don't see any need to secure a mandate past the end of October. The mandate has been secured."

Turning his attention to the delegates currently being selected in branches across the Island, Mr. Lister said: "The biggest part of it isn't the speaking, it's the scheduling — trying to schedule meetings. The number of e-mails and calls to arrange is quite unbelievable, but we have been pretty much successful."

On the suggestion Ms Cox remains the overwhelming favourite, he said: "I don't hear it anywhere any more. What I hear is the race is now close, getting closer. I'm going to spend as much as I can talking to delegates.

"It's important to appreciate this is a close race. It's a close race because we did town hall meetings, because we have a message people want to hear. We are about bringing people together at this point in time. This is what people are crying out for.

"People are concerned about the economy and violence and crime and they wanted to hear some answers. As we have gone around we have been throwing out some answers and listening to answers from the people."