Tonight, around 160 Progressive Labour Party delegates, officials and MPs will take on the momentous task of choosing Bermuda's Premier. There is not enough space here to debate the merits of the leadership selection process of a political party, but the burden of responsibility undoubtedly lies heavier on a party's electors when the party is in power.

And it is regrettable that the last few weeks have not seen a more public debate between the prospective candidates. To be sure, a party is choosing a leader, but that person will also lead a country and the public surely should have some idea, if not a say, in who that person will be and what they stand for.

By the same token, it is unfortunate that the media have been banned from attending tonight's conference when the speakers will appeal to the delegates for their votes.

Most democracies carry out this exercise in public, whether it is through the US primary system or through the open-to-the-media party conferences in the UK. Indeed, it can be argued that those campaigns help to test the abilities of the candidates to withstand the rigours of a general election campaign. Alas, there has been very little of that kind of test here, although credit must be given to Terry Lister for his efforts to engage the public.

Instead, the delegates will make their judgments based on their own experience and knowledge of the candidates, having possibly seen them at a branch meeting, and finally, on the basis of a ten-minute address tonight.

That's a formidable task.

Having said that, no one really knows what kind of a leader a candidate will make until they are in the job. They may have had a distinguished career as a Minister, they may speak well and have a raft of good ideas. But until they are in the job, no one truly knows how they will perform.

The candidates running tonight are human. They bring strengths to the table, but they have weaknesses too. Which ones come to the fore during the Premier's tenure will determine their success or failure.

And there is no job in Bermuda quite like being Premier. The Premier is first among equals around the Cabinet table, but must be able to lead. The Premier must know when to demand and when to persuade, and when to push and when to back off. Perhaps the most critical job is knowing whom to appoint to what jobs, knowing how to get the best out of them and knowing when a change is needed.

The next Premier will also have to get straight to work. The challenges are immense: Bermuda faces a faltering economy and a growing gun crime problem.

Education, health care, the environment, infrastructure issues and a host of other problems crowd for attention further down the agenda. But more important than that is a sense that Bermuda has lost its sense of its place in the world. Many Bermudians have a profound mistrust in the Island's institutions, and especially in its political institutions. Fairly or not, too many people are quick to assign the worst motives to almost all decisions.

The major task of whoever becomes Premier tonight will be to restore the public's trust in the integrity of the Government.

The new Premier can start to do that quickly, both through words that signal a break with the past and through the appointments he or she makes to the Cabinet and Senate. But a start must be made, and quickly, Without it, little else will be possible.