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ABC to put focus on Island?s future at forum tonight

The All Bermuda Congress will hold a forum tonight to discuss the future of Bermuda?s political landscape.

Organiser Khalid Wasi said the new party will campaign on rights for voters to force referendums and recall MPs and would have a cabinet that included politicians from across the board ? not just the ABC.

Mr. Wasi, who was once a vocal member of the United Bermuda Party, claimed the party already has 15 people interested in running as candidates and plans to have people running in all 36 constituencies in the next election.

The forum is entitled ?It?s your turn? and Mr. Wasi hopes people will come and discuss what they envisage for the future of Bermuda.

He added that the ABC was different from the main parties because members shared central philosophical ideas were not forced to ?toe the party line? and would be able to vote on issues according to their conscience or the good of their constituents ? rather than having to vote the way party leaders wanted them to.

Mr. Wasi will speak at the forum along with former independent MP and environmentalist Stuart Hayward and the head of the Coalition for the Protection of Children head, Sheelagh Cooper.

Though he stressed that they would not speak long as the aim was to have as much audience participation as possible.

He said: ?We don?t really want people coming with their problems, to complain.

? We already know there are a lot of things wrong with the current system and political situation.

?What we want is people?s input in what can be done to make it better, how to improve it.?

He said he hoped it would attract people who are not interested in what either party had to say, but also those that may already support a party but do not agree with how party politics unfolds in Bermuda.

He added: ?The polls consistently show that already 30 to 40 percent of people are not aligned with either party or not pleased with what is happening in Bermuda at the moment.

?I also think that the youth of Bermuda feel very alienated by the current system.

?They didn?t grow up in the same racial environment that the current politicians talk about.

? Many of them live in a far more multicultural world and don?t see things in terms of black and white so they don?t find the current system of racial politics appealing.?

The forum takes place tonight at St. Paul?s in Paget. It starts at 7 p.m.