More than 60 percent of respondents to a online poll want Independence to be decided via a referendum.

And just over 30 percent support deciding the issue via a General Election.

The poll, which ended yesterday, came after Premier Alex Scott said he had been asked by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to report back on Bermuda?s preference for deciding on Independence.

Mr. Scott?s Progressive Labour Party has traditionally supported deciding via a General Election while the Opposition United Bermuda Party supports a referendum similar to the one in 1995 that resoundingly rejected Independence.

Of the 1,173 people who took part in the www.theroyalgazette.com poll, 62.4 percent supported a referendum, 31.9 percent said MPs should decide, 1.5 percent supported ?other means? and three percent said they did now know.

The results of the poll are strikingly similar to one conducted by in March this year.

In that poll, 62.3 percent said they supported a referendum, 31.2 percent backed a General Election, 2.4 percent wanted a vote by MPs, 0.5 percent said ?other? and 3.5 percent said ?don?t know?.

That poll was conducted after Mr. Scott announced he wanted to start a national debate on Independence.