Former Premier and current Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Dame Jennifer Smith has been elected vice chairman of the prestigious Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Dame Jennifer joins the upper echelons of the Commonwealth's politicians and will serve alongside the heads of Parliaments from Nigeria, India and West Bengal.

On its website ? www.cpahq.org ? the CPA described itself as working in the fields of good governance, democracy, elections and human rights.

It said the vice chairman is elected for a one-year term from the members of the Executive Committee.

The CPA newsletter, "First Reading" said in March that Dame Jennifer was a member of the Progressive Labour Party, first elected in 1989 with a background as a journalist.

She was also a member of the executive committee for the Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic section.

Last week, on May 16, Dame Jennifer led an eight woman, cross-party, Bermuda contingent to a CPA Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Regional Conference in Nassau, Bahamas.

Dame Jennifer did not return calls last night, however she said last week that growing up in Bermuda there was not a lot of female role models in Parliament.

"No such thing existed, but young people growing up today have us, and we feel the need to let people know what we are doing so other young people may be inspired," Dame Jennifer was reported to say last week.

It was also reported in August, 2005, that when Dame Jennifer was a member of the CPA Executive Committee, she arrived well before the Bermuda contingent ? led by Finance Minister Paula Cox ? arrived for the 51st CPA Conference in Nadi, Fiji.

Growing from a membership of six in 1911 when it was first known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, active CPA branches now exist in nearly 170 national, state, provincial and territorial Parliaments and Legislatures, the web-site said, with a total membership of around 15,000 Parliamentarians.