this year, the new chairwoman of the Portuguese Bermudian Organisation said this week.

And Miss Ana Faria warned Bermuda's Portuguese will not be "just blindly voting UBP (United Bermuda Party) like they have in the past.

"A lot of them are feeling very resentful,'' Miss Faria told The Royal Gazette . "They're doing more thinking about making their decisions.'' Miss Faria said the eviction of long-time Portuguese residents during the recession has opened wounds that will not instantly heal once the economic recovery comes.

Bermudian-born youths who finish school at 18 find they are unable to work until they turn 21 and can apply for status, she said. And that can take months.

"The injustice of it all is just dawning on people,'' Miss Faria said. "For a number of people it has come as a shock -- the youth particularly, who were brought up thinking they were Bermudian.'' A stronger economy "would make some problems better, but the problem of the feelings that have built up won't change that quickly,'' the 24-year-old schoolteacher said.

"People are aware now.'' With an election coming, awareness will be heightened further, she said.

Formed in October, the PBO hired a consultant to conduct a telephone survey about the attitudes of Bermuda's MPs and Senators.

The data is still being tabulated, Miss Faria said.

Once "we know who is in favour of us and who is against us we can start working with that knowledge,'' she said. "What we can do now is take a look at how each MP answered, find out in each constituency how many of our members live there, and find out how much they won by.

"You never know,'' she said. "There might not be a very comfortable margin there. It might encourage them to perhaps pay a little more attention to us.'' There are just over 2,000 Portuguese in Bermuda.

For starters, the PBO wants the age of majority to apply for Bermudian status reduced to 18 from 21 and greater protection for those born in Bermuda or who came here as infants, Miss Faria said.

And all longtime non-Bermudian residents would benefit from the changes, not just the Portuguese, she said.

The PBO's membership includes about 400 families, but a major disappointment has been the lack of support from many longtime residents of Portuguese descent who already have Bermudian status, she said. "Some of them have been really quiet.'' Miss Faria was born in Bermuda and has status.

MISS ANA FARIA -- Warns that Bermuda's Portuguese will start to use their political clout.