A community activist who hopes to replace the United Bermuda Party as Bermuda?s second political party has indicated it will not happen unless and until the Opposition dissolves.

Khalid Wasi said last night that Bermudians are too pragmatic and practical to consider a third party and his initiative to bring a new political party to the Island will not work until the UBP ceases to exist.

And his belief that Bermudians are currently not interested in his party, All Bermuda Congress (ABC), appeared to be backed up by a recent poll conducted by Research Innovations for .

The survey indicated that a majority of the people polled thought little would change when his new party entered the fray , based on what they knew of the initiative at the time they were polled.

But Mr. Wasi said Bermudians are not interested in considering a third party at the moment, because it is impractical, and the current political landscape is dominated by rhetoric from the Government and UBP.

He stressed that for his initiative to work the UBP needs to ?get out of the water?.

?I think Bermuda wants to go to another place,? he said yesterday. ?It is a whole paradigm shift. We want to get away from the race politics which both parties symbolise.?

He added that the recent change in UBP leadership had done little to galvanise support for the party.

?They need to come to grips with the fact that [winning the next election is not going to happen. They need to join with the broader Bermuda.

A large number of blacks on the Island are not hardcore PLP supporters, they are interested in a better Bermuda,? he said. ?The only thing that prevents these people coming together is the UBP.?

Mr. Wasi indicated that a number of influential people on the Island have expressed interest in his initiative, but he refused to provide any names. He said that an article that ran in last December had pre-empted the natural progression of the initiative.

They had not planned to announce their initiative that early and never wanted to suggest that the Island could use a third party, he said. However, he remained adamant that it would not take a lot for ABC to come to fruition.

?It requires only one or two individuals from the UBP or PLP to step away from their party to trigger it,? he said. ?Members from both sides have told me that they recognise what we are saying is true.?

But a poll conducted by Research Innovations found that only 12 per cent of people questioned thought the All Bermuda Congress would leave a major mark on the local political scene, with 51 per cent stating that the impact would be ?minor?.

Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of people who took part in the survey had never heard of the initiative, while more than one in ten (12 percent) thought it would have no effect at all.

The racial breakdown of results from the survey showed that 50 percent of blacks questioned thought that ABC?s impact would be minor, while 56 percent of whites gave the same response.

Only 14 percent of blacks and 11 percent of whites thought the new party would make a major difference, while nearly a quarter of blacks (24 percent) and 18 percent of whites said they had never heard of the party.

Results on gender showed that 15 percent of men and one in ten women questioned stated that ABC would have a significant impact on the political scene.

However, 50 percent of men and 51 percent of women thought the consequences of it forming would be small.

The survey showed that Mr. Wasi faces an uphill struggle to secure younger votes, as 36 percent of 18- to 35-year-olds polled had never heard of ABC. And the response from the older generation appeared to be as gloomy ? nearly two thirds (62 percent) of over-55s questioned thought his party would have a minor effect.

Other results showed that nearly 60 percent of people on a household income of less than $50,000 thought ABC?s effect would be slight.

Some 51 percent of people on more than $100,000 agreed with that verdict. The poll of 404 people with a margin of error of 4.9 percent took place from March 11-15.