Fiery Cabinet Minister David Burch has lost the first round of his bid to replace Stanley Lowe as Progressive Labour Party election candidate in Southampton East, going down by nine votes to six.

The Royal Gazette understands Bermuda Industrial Union president Chris Furbert, who was also interested in the seat, a stronghold for the PLP, withdrew his name from Wednesday night’s ballot which also saw at least one spoiled ballot paper.

It is thought Dr. Melvin Dickinson, Director of the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Disabled, attracted three votes.

Senator Burch has previously stood and lost twice in general elections — first in Smith’s South in 1998 and then to Maxwell Burgess in Hamilton South in 2003.

Sen. Burch also lost a by-election to Mr. Burgess in Smith’s South in 2001.

However the party top brass have made it clear that this time opinion polls are going to be factored in before candidates are approved to run.

However one PLP candidate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attempt to change the rules midway through the selection process could end up in a legal challenge as anger mounted among the party grass roots.

Alaska Hall has put more emphasis on the role of the five-person candidates selection committee in the process who will consider telephone polls gauging the popularity of potential candidates before making a recommendation to be approved by the much larger central committee.

Opponents of the system are pointing to the PLP constitution, which although very light on detail, says the branches propose candidates for public office but the choice can be modified by the central committee which runs the party.

The constitution goes on to say the chairman of the candidates committee shall ensure the interview and preparation of candidates for all public offices.

And the chairman shall ensure candidates are trained and familiarised with the party platform.

The source said: “You can’t change the rules in the middle of the game. The central committee is the only body which can make a change from what the branches decided. It’s very clear.”

With some MPs and candidates who have got through the first hurdle fearing they could still be dumped the party was now risking legal action said the source.

“Perhaps the ‘branch’ people could take it to court for constitutional reasons.”

The candidate said the phone polls were unreliable as they only covered around ten percent of the constituency — around 100 voters — leaving a very high margin of error.

“One person has been called five times. That is already five percent of the poll. If you did the same thing with four people that’s 20 percent of the poll.

“And what is the weighting being given to the phone polls?”

It was argued crafty non-PLP voters who answered the phone could distort the process by professing support for an unelectable candidate.

Other loopholes included voters picking well known people with a national profile over unknowns who might be prepared to work harder on the ground level and the fact people might have moved out of the constituency but still have their old phone number.

One MP rang The Royal Gazette to respond to comments by Renee Webb that fresh blood was needed to take the party to the next level with new candidates needed to offer analysis and critical thinking.

The MP said: “What is the next level? It is a nice catch phrase but does the next level include the grass roots?

“It has not been made clear — that’s why the grass roots hasn’t fallen for all these new people.”

And the MP said there was nothing impressive about the new crowd vying for seats.

“There is a move on to get rid of certain people and put in a new crowd with a vocabulary which says ‘yes’. If they say anything else it’s ‘yes, sir’.”

The Royal Gazette understands two more sitting MPs have been given the backing of their branches with both Somerset North MP Michael Scott and Devonshire North Central MP Glenn Blakeney being voted in unopposed.