plan, party chief Charles Jeffers said.

"We will be taking several steps to see whether or not there is a strong position for us in the political arena,'' he said.

"Our strategy next year is to judge what support is there and to try and get commitments from a number of people -- candidates, financial support and working support for the party.'' And he added: "If we can't do these three things, our future is in doubt -- but we're convinced, based on what we're hearing now, the possibility of getting that support is there.'' The NLP -- whose four candidates took a hammering in the November General Election -- has not held a seat in Parliament since the early 1990s.

But Mr. Jeffers insisted the PLP victory at the polls cracked open the door for the NLP to once again become a force in Island politics.

He said: "There a number of people who have made the mental cross away from the UBP and we do not believe that these people will go back.

"They may be unhappy or uncomfortable with the PLP, but another party, whether it be the NLP or a newly-formed party which is more in the middle, is what people are looking for.

"We believe that the NLP will provide that. We have demonstrated that we can survive against all odds and we feel that now our time may have come -- in fact, maybe we were ahead of our time.'' Mr. Jeffers added: "The PLP have demonstrated they can become the Government -- but there are still people who feel uncomfortable and these may be people who supported them.

"Now they must act rather than just criticise and consequently they will be judged by their actions.

"And it's not uncommon for any party in power to start to lose popular support.

"We don't know how long the honeymoon will last, but they will go the way of most parties and begin to lose support.'' And he added he saw the UBP as vulnerable in the next five years as well.

Mr. Jeffers said: "I see the UBP as getting weaker instead of stronger and we see people who have traditionally voted for either of the other two parties, whether for political or whatever other criteria, as moving in a new direction.

"Support will come initially from former UBP supporters, not hard core supporters, but these people who felt they could do a better job.

"A number of hard core supporters will simply retire into the background -- I don't think there will be a whole lot of activity by these people.

"In the beginning, I don't see a whole lot of support from PLP supporters, but as time goes on, there could be a variety of situations in Government which could lead to people looking at other options.

"And Governments have a history of saying they will listen to the people during an election and doing what they want to do when they are elected -- time will tell.

"But I don't believe, despite their words, that the UBP will be a strong Opposition -- it's left to the NLP, and to a large extent the media, to be the Opposition.''