The Opposition United Bermuda Party is still waiting for the Foreign Office to respond to its call for a voter re-registration drive if the electoral system is changed.

The UBP says the inaccurate voters list which could taint the next general election.

"From our perspective the issue of accurate registration in the new single seat constituencies is probably the most important single overriding issue," said UBP Leader Grant Gibbons.

"We have found significant discrepancies between the (voters) list and what we are finding in the constituencies. That variation can be as high as 30 percent and certainly higher in other constituencies - which clearly calls into question whether a fair election can be held." Dr. Gibbons wrote to Baroness Amos, the junior Minister in charge of Britain's colonies, last December confirming that his party supported electoral reform as recommended by the Boundaries Commission.

"We would encourage Her Majesty's Government to proceed expeditiously with their implementation through the Order in Council to ensure that the next general election will be held under the new 36 seat system," the letter said.

"Although it does not require constitutional change to implement, a re-registration of all voters prior to the next general election is essential to ensure that the electoral role is accurate and that voters are properly placed within the new single member constituencies. ... We are aware that a majority of Commission members felt that a voter re-registration was necessary and were likely influenced by one of the Government members who represented to the Commission that there would be a re-registration."

Dr. Gibbons went on to say that his party's canvassing for last year's Pembroke East Central by-election had revealed that the election rolls were not accurate.

"A simple computer redistribution of voters as proposed by the Parliamentary Registrar's office in Bermuda would not result in accurate constituency roles, as our canvassing suggests that up to 36 percent of the current addresses are incorrect and have not been updated by the voters as required by the Parliamentary Election Act. We ask for your support on the issue of re-registration." He also repeated his party's proposals on the role of future Boundaries Commissions, an independent Speaker of the House and the way the Bermuda Constitution is changed in the future.

The UBP wants future Boundaries Commissions to publicise draft recommendations to allow comment from the public before finalising their reports.

It has proposed an independently non-elected Speaker to run proceedings in the House of Assembly.

And the party wants a consistent method to be followed before major changes to the Constitution are made.

"Clarification of the steps required to amend the Bermuda Constitution Order in the future would go a long way to avoiding the public anxiety, concern and suspicion experienced at the start an existing through much of the constitutional change procedures followed over the last two years," Dr. Gibbons wrote.

"Toward this end, we have consistently maintained that any significant changes to our Bermuda Constitution should be pursued by means of an updated constitutional conference, followed by a referendum to allow ratification of the changes by the electorate."

The letter was released to The Royal Gazette in response to queries on the UBP's communication with the Foreign Office about electoral reform. It went on to ask how human rights issues raised by the Foreign Office in May 2000 would be handled. FCO officials had raised human rights issues when they visited the Island in 2000 and said they would be handled after the Boundaries Commission had completed its work.

and a second order in council changing the Constitution was in train.

"The UBP wasn't entirely sure what those (human rights issues) were," said Dr. Gibbons. "It was never what they call a front burner issue."

His party has not, as yet, received a response to the letter but has not yet decided whether to write again.

The next general election must be called by November this year. Whitehall has indicated that the Order in Council, which would transform Bermuda's electoral landscape, will likely be made on February 27 and last week Governor Sir John Vereker issued a statement urging members of the public who still had comments to make to do so before that date.