A Privy Council order made in Britain on July 18 to amend a number of constitutional clauses and set the stage for major electoral reform in Bermuda is effective as of today.

The order provides for the Boundaries Commission to prepare a report recommending the number, and boundaries, of constituencies in a revamped single-seat electoral system, and it makes provisions for a constitutionally mandated Ombudsman for Bermuda.

It stipulates that the number of seats be between 20 and 40 and represents the first step of a two-step process toward changing the Bermuda Constitution.

The order also states that the Boundaries Commission shall "ensure that the constituencies shall contain, as far as is reasonably practicable, equal numbers of persons qualified to be registered as electors".

It further states that the Boundaries Commission not take racial distribution of electors into account, can ignore parish boundaries, but take into account natural boundaries and geographical features, and ensure that the constituencies are contiguous, in preparing the report.

And it allows the Boundaries Commission to consult with members of the public in preparing its report.

Once the report is completed, it will be debated in the House and sent to the Foreign Secretary with a record of the House debate.

Other constitutional changes made by today's order remove qualifications to protection against inhuman treatment and remove provisions for the death sentence.

The order creates the office of the Ombudsman for Bermuda by adding a new section to the Constitution.

The Ombudsman will be appointed by the Governor after consulting with the Premier who "shall first have consulted the Opposition Leader".

Political party officials and politicians - recent or current - will be disqualified from being appointed the Island's Ombudsman.

A last ditch attempt to prevent last month's order going ahead was made by The Association for Due Process and The Constitution which believes the UK must organise a constitutional conference before changing the Constitution.

A judge threw out an Association-supported application for judicial review of the UK Government's handling of constitutional reform, saying the changes were not major and were initiated by the Bermuda Government which had received a mandate from the electorate to do so.