The following continues Friday's coverage of the Boundaries Commission debate from the House of Assembly

Following on from colleague Allan Marshall, United Bermuda Party MP Trevor Moniz said Government might have addressed constitutional reform more comprehensively.

He said the end report of the commission represented a compromise of all sides and suggested it might have had significantly different content had it not been for the efforts of those who signed the petition and the group Association for Due Process.

Mr. Moniz said he believed many Government MPs see the changes as a step towards independence, which he personally opposes, and he disagreed with characterising the electoral reform as an "historical inevitability".

He also said, while the commission was to recommend a redrawing of boundaries along natural boundaries, the end result was drawn along roads.

"These are not natural boundaries they are pathways," he said. "They are not boundaries at all. Nothing could be further from the truth..."

Mr. Moniz said while the perception has been the old system was prejudiced, almost 80 percent of House members are black, although blacks represent only 70 percent of voters and 60 percent of the general population.

Alternatively, he said, those of Portuguese descent may represent 15 percent of the population and only have five percent representation.

He also said Government should have included the Register of Member's Interest in the Constitution as well as a Code of Conduct, as was recommended by the British Government.

Minister of Health Nelson Bascome reiterated that the tabling of the report was a historic moment for Island democracy.

He recalled that in his childhood, campaigners used to drive though the streets with megaphones to get their message out until the Government outlawed the tactic. Even at that time, Mr. Bascome said, Bermudians were lamenting that a vote in Paget carried almost two times the weight of a vote in Pembroke.

Today, through electoral reform, Bermuda has surged forward, he suggested, and was breaking the "shackles which tie to Great Britain."

The UBP's John Barritt - who also served as a member of the Boundaries Commission - also highlighted the compromise that was achieved in the preparation of the report. Mr. Barritt pointed out that Government had sought a reduction of MPs to 32 while the Opposition had proposed 39 MPs, with an independently appointed Speaker.

Mr. Barritt said the commission met 45 times to arrive at its conclusions and, on whole, the meetings were productive and cordial. He also continued to argue the merits of an independent Speaker by suggesting that an elected speaker from a single-seat constituency would leave those voters without a voice in Parliament.

Mr. Barrit also denied Mr. Cox's assertion that he may have been intimidated by the Association for Due Process. His dissent reflected views he had held from the beginning of the process, he said. He then began detailing the Association's concerns with the Report, saying that it was important they be aired and responded to.

The Association, a lobby group that sprang up to oppose the process by which the Government was handling the reforms, had criticised the Report as "flawed, misleading and incomplete".

One of its criticisms was that the process of drawing up the boundaries was open to political interference because manual adjustments were made after they were generated by a Works and Engineering computer system.

"There was no opportunity for horse-trading," said Mr. Barritt. "I want to put paid to any criticism, any concern that that happened." Bermuda's geographical shape created difficulties for the software program and so operators had to "coax the program along. Based on what I know that manual work was only done to coax the program along," he said. And the whole exercise was certified as acceptable by a consultant who specialised in the software and in redistricting in the United States.

It was discovered that the Works and Engineering database was missing 985 voters because their addresses were not in the system.

"We just could not ignore those 985 voters because that's almost the size of a constituency."

After much painstaking work involving the Statistics department, Works and Engineering Computer Services and Planning, their addresses were accounted for. In many of the cases the anomaly was corrected by going back to raw data people had provided for the 2000 census, he explained. Some people had filled census forms in incorrectly or given the wrong addresses. Others had no fixed abode or lived on boats and so had no assessment or land valuation numbers which are used by the Parliamentary Registrar.

"They had to go back and find out what those street addresses were and make sure they match up with the program Works and Engineering had... That wasn't finished until early June." Work on the boundaries could only really get underway after that point, he explained.

He was "surprised" at remarks made by the Premier during her opening statement that 98 percent of the Island's voters had been taken into account by the census. "I thought we had 100 percent accounted for, so I am not particularly pleased to hear that two percent had been missed..."

Mr. Barritt also addressed the Association's concern that the Commission's methodology, which used polygons as building blocks of the new constituencies and not census zones as in the past, was not disclosed to the public when the first public meetings were held in January this year. "That's fair comment because we ourselves did not know at that stage."

He said that the census blocks were too large for the software program and it was decided after taking advice from the psephologist that the much smaller polygons would be used. That gave the program more flexibility and speed. Because the program generated weird shapes and in some instances created unworkable boundaries, manual adjustments were then made to some boundaries, and a decision taken to use the centre lines of roads as boundaries. That too, was done under the supervision of the software and redistricting expert, Mr. Hejazi.

Mr. Barritt agreed with the Association that the process should have been more open to the public and that people should have been able to see the new electoral map so they could give feedback.

He said just as planning zoning decisions and applications are open to review by the public, the electoral map should have been.He responded to the criticism that the Commission based its data on the number of voters as of May, 2002, but did not disclose that information to the public in January, by saying that no matter what date was chosen it would always be a "moving target".

And he said that although the prospect of parochial representation was discussed in coming up with the number. The report simply said that if it becomes a reality, the country could have a lower number of constituencies, he explained. "It did not factor in the decision."

Dame Lois Browne Evans objected to Mr. Barritt's presentation saying that he was not speaking about the report or his dissenting view. The Association should state its arguments in London, she added. But Deputy Speaker Walter Lister said he would give some latitude to Mr. Barritt. "I'm defending and explaining what was in the report and would have though the secretary of state would be interested in a response to the criticism," Mr. Barritt said.

"I feel it's my duty and obligation..."

"You might as well join the Due Process," Dame Lois interjected.

He repeated his argument that the country must go through compulsory reregistration saying that people give wrong addresses, change residences a lot and that the Parliamentary register uses land valuation numbers and not street addresses, which are used by the Works and Engineering program, to identify voters.

"What better way to move forward than with a clean voters' list ?.. Even more important people get to know where they are."

And he criticised Government for only getting extra copies of the report to the public on the day of the debate.

He defended the five percent variant, saying it avoided too large variations in size between constituencies.

In defending the number of constituencies chosen, he said : "we felt we could live with 36 and still have a representative democratic government."

Criticism from the Government benches about his dissenting view were only designed to "muzzle him," he claimed. "I'm pleased to be in a party that doesn't muzzle or doesn't punish us for voicing dissent."

Regarding the UBP's other constitutional reform issues, he said that the Boundaries Commission process had worked and resulted in a "good old fashioned compromise" between the two parties. "Why can't we continue the process" with a constitutional conference, he asked. He said the requirement that the Commission meet once every three to seven years should be narrowed if "we are truly interested in one man, one vote and equal size constituencies".

"I hope we don't get one man, one vote, one lawsuit."

On future constitutional change clause he said he was not sure that the UK Government could be held to commitments by a previous Government.

The British had asked its territories to look at modernising their constitutions in 1999, he said. "And one of the things is how the constitution can be changed."

He challenged the Government to say what its position is on future constitutional changes.

Ruling party backbencher Dale Butler noted that there had been a muted public reaction to the report. "Maybe it's because we have allayed their anxiety," he said. Like some of his colleagues he clearly had the British in mind as an audience. In one of the day's most engaging speeches, he struck the theme of the PLP's quest for voter parity as a core value of the party, and drew a humorous parallel with British customs like high tea, fox hunting and pork sausage. "If you want a fight, Mr. Speaker, if you want a demonstration, a brouhaha. If you want to make people angry and annoyed, tamper with the British sausage. You will have war on your hands.

" If you get rid of that British custom, you will have picketing and demonstration if you tamper with the British pork sausage."

The PLP had, from its earliest days, advocated voter parity for all Bermudians. "One man, one vote, each vote of equal value - it is a fundamental tenet. Something that you can't lose sight of that becomes a part of your life. It is something that no matter what... the chances of changing it are almost impossible because it is a fundamental tenet. It makes you who you are as a party… There will always be a corps of values that are unshakable and clearly in the Progressive Labour Party, this is one," he boomed.

"And my British colleagues who are listening to me will understand when they realise they will not sacrifice their pork sausage, they will not sacrifice their toad in the hole, their tea in the afternoon or any of those cultural issues that make them who they are. And is an issue that makes us who we are."

He said that the party had struggled for this fundamental tenet "against all odds" through the years of the land franchise, the struggle for universal suffrage and the vote for women which only came in 1944.

Those struggles, he asserted, had helped to define the PLP's "corps of political beliefs". "Some of us, having read about it and others who experienced it realised that surely there must be a better way to bring about democracy."

He said that his party would have been held accountable if it had not addressed the goal of voter parity once in power.

He said the British will probably be wondering what the fuss is about, given the small size of the electorate compared to even one constituency in Britain. He lamented Bermuda's penchant for gradualism, saying "that's why in 2002 we are just getting around to one man, one vote…?"

He cited his own constituency, Warwick East, to illustrate the need for electoral reform. "When you have Warwick East with 2,594 registered voters and we get paid the exact same amount as the Honourable Member from Paget East, the smallest constituency with 1,374 voters. We both have the same responsibilities…"

He noted that unlike British Parliamentarians, Bermudian legislators don't get a range of benefits like transportation allowance, accommodation, a constituency office and staff paid for with public funds. "You could always stay at your momma's," interjected Pat Gordon Pamplin, drawing raucous laughter from the chamber.

"Yeah, you stay round your momma's in Bermuda you are getting divorced or separated - people start talking about you. So you don't do things like that in Bermuda."

He noted that since the PLP came into power some facilities had been provided to legislators.

He said that one of his disappointments was retaining parish identities in the naming of the constituencies. That's a pack of nonsense. We should have just moved into zones, electoral zones; 36 electoral zones regardless of your parish… That really would have moved us a lot farther along constitutional reform. But that's a fundamental tenet in the minds of Bermudians. It is something difficult to get rid of."

He had walked two of the five recommended single seat constituencies in Warwick to get a feel for the areas, and noticed that some people in Paget are now in Warwick South East, he said. There might be some resistance to that, since some Bermudians still "have a small village mentality, which comes back to that fundamental tenet."

But "it's called change. That's something that Bermudians will have to get used to." Turning to the call for reregistration, he said that people with the right to vote should exercise responsibility and not expect to be spoon-fed. "You have a certain responsibility as a mature voter to find out… and for those people who are not politically astute they have their Members of Parliament and even their own children, to assist them. So there's no big issue in assigning people to their constituencies."

He attacked criticism of the process, saying "Could we really have taken this journey… would the British have allowed us to come this far if we were making so many mistakes and violating people's rights and doing it all wrong, and not following the requirements, the terms of reference of this document, I don't think we would have gotten this far." He noted that the Commission was made up of highly respected individuals including three who had been knighted by the Queen, one former Premier of Bermuda, a former Minister and a sitting Finance Minister.

"Six people whose reputations could not be impinged… These are people who are role models, who stand up in the community for truth and honesty and they obviously dedicated themselves to ensuring that the report would be completed. I trusted their judgment. We couldn't have had a finer team to represent us - a fine group of Bermudians, fine… real fine (looking directly at Pamela Gordon)."

He said that there was no point talking about a clause in the constitution specifying a procedure to change the document because only an order in council can change the constitution.

"As a colony we are just following the rules."

Government had not stopped people from protesting he noted. "They had every opportunity to flood the newspapers with letters to the editor." But things had calmed considerably since the report had been released, he said. "I got five telephone calls in favour of 36 seats and asking me whether I would still be their representative."

Mr. Butler announced, much to the chagrin and amusement of his running mate Alex Scott, that he had staked out his preferred district - Warwick South Central. The Speaker had to bring the House back to order minutes later when the other Parliamentarians caught on and erupted in raucous laughter.

Mr. Butler continued by noting that there was no evidence of manipulation in redrawing the districts and that all the terms of reference of the Commission were adhered to. "It met its mandate and it did not tamper with the pork sausage."

He added: "This was not a paint-by-numbers exercise. They used the most sophisticated technology available..."

He said it was a positive thing that Bermudians had "easy access" to their Parliamentarians because there are more of them per capita than in other countries.

He referred to newspaper articles after the report was published to show that the document was approved by members of both political parties, and other groups.

"The report represented one more step towards the achievement of the party's longstanding goal of electoral reform," he said quoting deputy speaker Walter Lister. "Perhaps the next step will come when we finally grow up and attack the Independence word and organise a joint select committee, a fact finding committee... to tackle the issue of Independence. And at that time we will have to sit down and have a constitutional conference that will broaden its scope to deal with all of these issues."

Even the Association through Warren Cabral had said that a month is more than enough for the public to analyse the report. "So it was obvious that he was beginning to lay down his mantle, put down his machine gun and say there's not much more I can do... I guess maybe his group got tied up in their summer vacations, their trips to Vermont, Monaco and got caught up in the luxuries of Bermuda life."

He commended the Opposition for organising meetings within the first week of the report's release and noted that some of the party's own supporters wanted it to drop the call for a conference.

But he said that there is a need to reform of the Senate, which is appointed and not elected. "Although the question was raised, they could do nothing about it." He urged the British Government to give the Island more direction on how to change the Constitution.

"We can't take the country through this again... We know about the tremendous disorder that occurs in so many parts of the world when they abandon their constitutions that treat the constitution like it doesn't mean anything... We need to know, not only for those of us who are legislators now but for future generations, we need to know how the Constitution is changed."

He said while Mr. Cabral had made a "good point" in questioning whether the Commission had breached the rules by not allowing the public to give feedback on the electoral map before it became final recommendations. But, he said, "I didn't hear a public demand at all to have this done. And this is a significant point. He mentions it but the pubic went silent. I expected a couple of people to say 'I walked the zone and this particular area is nonsense'. And Bermudians are famous for finding fault. We are a very fastidious people. I don't know how many of us will get to heaven but it will be a better place when we get there because we can find fault, we want life to be perfect. You draw a straight line it's still not straight enough. You build a highway, it's still not exactly the way it should be.. We have extremely high standards. So if anyone would find fault with the way these zones were put together it would be a Bermudian."

He added that precious few people heeded the Association's call to write letters to the editor. "If you could find six (letters) Mr. Speaker, that's all you could find. Bermudians were more concerned during this serious constitutional process with their Cablevision, with their summer holidays, with their housing, their everyday living issues... because, I believe that they trusted the members of this House to deal with the more serious issues."

As to Mr. Cabral's argument that there could be no way to check that the map was not politically manipulated if the public could not check it, he said: "Indeed during all other boundaries commissions when lines were redrawn did the public ever have a say?"

And his review continued with the National Liberal Party's view that they would have preferred 32 seats but he noted that party's view that the exercise had been done with 'sensitivity to geography and trying to keep voter communities intact to some degree. This is an Opposition party praising the Commission for work it had done."

Political scientist Walton Brown had also contended that it was impracticable and unworkable to have the public provide feedback on the map.

"The journey has been taken. There's still some work to be done. But the same way a Brit would fight for his pork sausage, and fight for his toad in the hole and his English tea - his fundamental tenets are things that he will not give up. Our fundamental tenets of one man, one vote, each vote of equal value has finally after years of hard work after this journey has been taken. And I look forward to seeing the educational steps continue as we take the additional steps... There's no teacup, there's no storm because we all agree..."

Labour and Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister hailed Bermuda as one step closer to true democracy with the tabling of the report.

Following on the lead of other Government speakers, he too highlighted the unequal nature of Bermuda electoral system in the past.

Mr. Lister took issue with Mr. Moniz's suggestion that even in the 1950s there were more black voters than white.

He said that may have been true but the reason they did not vote in more black MPs at that time was that voting often occurred by "syndicates", where groups of up to 20 people would band together to buy a piece of land.

People would then proceed to vote across the Island in different constituencies based on those land holdings, he said.

Mr. Lister also said it amused him that for years he read editorials saying Bermuda was over-represented and should move to a smaller number of elected representatives only for the Government to face all kinds of criticism when it took action in that direction.

He said the people of Bermuda wanted change and expressed that desire at the ballot box in 1998.

And he also took issue with the suggestion changing the constituencies would create confusion.

He said the Opposition suggested proportional representation as an alternative although that would create far more confusion.

And he reiterated the position a Constitutional Conference unnecessary in light of the PLP's electoral mandate.

"Have we been elected to deal with the affairs of this country," he asked. "If no, we shouldn't have done anything these years. If yes, we should move on the business of the country and this is important business."

Attorney General Dame Lois Browne-Evans added insights from her four decades in Parliament in supporting the report.

Opposition MP and former Premier Pamela Gordon then broke ranks with her party colleagues and told the Speaker she did not support their concerns.

Ms Gordon was followed by Premier Jennifer Smith who gave the closing remarks and gave a point-by-point rebuttal to the Opposition's positions.

"Having heard their (the Opposition's) last speaker, I am satisfied that there is no validity to any motion that the Opposition Leader might make following my motion that the report be now approved."

Dr. Grant Gibbons then moved his party's add-on motion saying that it would address Ms Gordon's concerns of uncertainty. But that was defeated by a voice vote. The principle motion was unanimously approved in another voice vote.