The view that black people will not vote for white leaders has raised some eyebrows among the political community.

"I didn't think that black people were that stupid," said Joyce Hall, a long time supporter of the United Bermuda Party, who happens to be white.

"It's a lot of nonsense. They will vote for a leader with a capital L. Anybody who voted on the basis of race alone hasn't got much common sense or political sense or anything else."

Mrs. Hall also opposes the movement to bring Sir John Swan back into the leadership of the UBP, mainly because he tried to take Bermuda independent.

Toppy Cowen, the leader of the Swan campaign which would have the former premier replace Dr. Grant Gibbons as party leader, believes Sir John would help the UBP win the next election because the black majority is more likely not to vote for a white leader.

Opposition Leader Dr. Grant Gibbons, in his first public comments on the Swan campaign, has charged that Mr. Cowen was hanging on to racial stereotyping and was nostalgic for the UBP's "good old days" when Sir John was in power.

Mr. Cowen shied away from direct references to black people when he first went public with his campaign saying that Sir John crossed racial barriers.

But the Bermuda Sun reported that Mr. Cowen had "clarified" his reasons for spearheading the campaign as "black people might have a problem with white leadership".

Asked to respond, former UBP Minister Quinton Edness said: "To say that is to denigrate black people. Black people will vote for responsible government. I know that race has been an important part of politics for some time but the bulk of Bermuda votes sensibly and vote for who they think is going to do the greatest good."

Mr. Cowen said his intention was not to offend black people but to point out political realities.

He told The Royal Gazette that there would be more black people who might be persuaded to vote for the UBP if it had a black leader.

"I think white people are more likely to vote for a black man than black people are likely to vote for a white man," said Mr. Cowen who added that the "racial divide" had yet to be properly tackled.

"What I am saying is if the UBP goes forward with a white leader it's almost like saying the racial divide is over after 400 years of white domination it's okay for a white man to come back into power. We still have the ball and chain syndrome."

Mr. Edness agreed that the UBP needs more support from the black community to win the next election.

"In order to do that they have got to come up with policies and programmes that will appeal to that particular group."

Blacks should also be encouraged to stand for Parliament and help formulate policies, he added. "There's a lot of black support pending and waiting for dynamic leadership... It's up to Grant Gibbons to provide that dynamism." Mr. Cowen said he couldn't see how his views could be offensive to black people. "Perhaps the more appropriate answer is blood is thicker than water, unless the leader projects an image of equality, that actions speak louder than words," he said "If anybody out there is batting for black people it's me and if they have misinterpreted what I'm saying they're not listening to what I'm saying."

Race has a lot to do with party politics, he insisted.

"There will be a lot of blacks who vote for Grant Gibbons, I am talking about the masses of people who obviously are thinking on party lines."

He disagreed that race was becoming less important as a result of the PLP's ascendancy into power. "I think people may be more judgmental of the performance of the PLP but I think Bermuda is more divided. It has to be, if the PLP doesn't have any white members of Parliament then it would seem to me they are the ones to blame for not uniting the country."

There's no serious effort on their part to attract white people."

Mr. Cowen said he feared being labelled a racist in this newspaper and Mrs. Hall said that voting for a parliamentary representative did not necessarily translate into voting for a Premier.

"We don't have a president. We don't vote for John Swan or Grant Gibbons. We vote for the person in our constituency. Then it's up to the parliamentary group to vote for the leader. We shouldn't assume too much."