Opposition leaders last night speculated that an election could be held on August 16.

And disclosed that Premier Dr. Ewart Brown’s strategy is to dissolve Parliament after the wrap-up of the next Senate meeting on July 11 so a writ for an election could be ‘dropped.’

Shawn Crockwell, the United Bermuda Party Chairman, said they received a confidential memorandum for the Premier justifying the date because a gag order remained on the media and many Bermudians would be travelling.

“We have heard from multiple sources that August 16 is the recommended date because, according to PLP strategists, ‘a significant number of persons, the majority of whom are not likely to vote for us (PLP), will be off the island and unable to alter travel plans in time to vote.’

“We can also report that a “Confidential Memorandum” to the PLP Leader that was shown to us also justified August 16 as “strategic” in that it fell “within the holding period” in the lead up to the judgement of the Privy Council in relation to the gag order on the media over publication of files relating to the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) scandal.”

Last month, The Mid-Ocean News ran a story from a leaked Police dossier centring on allegations of corruption at BHC.

The documents reportedly revealed that Dr. Brown, former Premier Jennifer Smith and former Minister Renée Webb were all investigated by Police looking into the BHC allegations.

Police Commissioner George Jackson and Attorney General Philip Perinchief then attempted to gag the media over reporting information from the leaked document, which they claimed had been stolen.

Supreme Court and Bermuda’s Court of Appeal both turned down their request, stating that freedom of the press to report on the BHC probe outweighs concern that the documents are confidential. The matter has now been referred to the Privy Council in London and Saul Froomkin QC, representing The Royal Gazette and its sister paper the Mid-Ocean News, had said the appeal could take between eight and 12 months to be heard.

This temporary gag on the media would allow the Premier to call an election before any further information is revealed while the date would ensure many Bermudians are travelling according to Mr. Crockwell.

And the opposition leader also slammed the Government for not implementing absentee ballots, which the UBP have called for. “In light of the fact that the PLP Government has not supported our call for the introduction of absentee ballots, we are concerned that people will lose their right to vote which comes once every five years,” he added

“This is a date that was carefully chosen to exclude a significant number of eligible, indigenous and hard-working Bermudans as well as to avoid the ruling by the Privy Council on the BHC scandal.”

Speculation mounts of August 16 election