Progressive Labour Party firebrand and union activist LaVerne Furbert has been selected to take on recently ousted United Bermuda Party leader Wayne Furbert in Hamilton West for the coming general election.

The parish has swapped between the parties over the years with Mr. Furbert winning by 61 votes last time under a redrawn electoral map.

One UBP MP predicted the party could lose the seat although, ironically, a PLP source predicted Mr. Furbert would hold it by picking up a sympathy vote given his recent fall from grace within his party.

And it has emerged that Ianthia Wade, widow of PLP legend Freddie Wade, has been selected to run in Warwick West.

The seat was held by Opposition MP Neville Darrell by 170 votes last time but he is retiring with lawyer Mark Pettingill already picked to replace him as UBP candidate.

Mrs. Wade beat former Attorney General Larry Mussenden and Dr. Melvin Dickinson, Director of the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Disabled, to get the PLP nomination.

And Mrs. Wade, who has lived in the constituency for more than three years, said she was confident she could win and relished the challenge.

She told The Royal Gazette: "I want to win a seat, not inherit one."

Former Senator Walter Roban has been picked to replace Ottiwell Simmons in the PLP stronghold of Pembroke East.

And it is thought Premier Ewart Brown and colleagues Dale Butler, George Scott, Nelson Bascome, Derrick Burgess and former Premier Alex Scott have all been confirmed by their branches in recent meetings, some unopposed.

This week the attention turns to the West End with the focus on Southampton East where Public Safety Minister David Burch, Bermuda Industrial Union leader Chris Furbert and Dr. Dickinson are thought to be vying to replace House speaker Stanley Lowe although it is unclear whether Mr. Lowe wants to run again.

Lawyer Charles Richardson, who famously rehabilitated himself after being jailed for his part in a night-club shooting, has been selected to fight the PLP's corner in Hamilton South which the UBP's Maxwell Burgess, who is retiring, held last time around by more than 100 votes.

Mr. Richardson, 35, is aiming to appeal to disaffected young black voters to win the seat.

His likely opponent is the UBP's branch chairman in the area Darius Tucker, a family man in his forties who works for the Wilkinson Trust.

And Reverend Leroy Bean has been picked for the PLP for their St. George's South seat — held by Renee Webb, who is retiring, by just eight votes last time.