Pressure group Bermudians for a Referendum will be submitting a petition to Premier Alex Scott next week signed by 35 percent of the electorate.

The group is calling on Government to have a referendum on the question of Independence, rather than make a decision through a General Election.

Organiser Michael Marsh said yesterday that the directive to the European Union issued by the Initiative and Referendum Institute (IRI) Europe stated that only five percent of the electorate was needed to sign a petition to warrant a referendum.

The 35 percent represents a net of 14,008 of registered voters who signed the petition. There are a total of 39,430 registered voters in Bermuda.

The petition states: ?I am a registered voter in Bermuda and I believe that the issue of Independence for Bermuda should be decided by way of a referendum and not by a General Election.?

Mr. Marsh said the organisation, which does not profess affiliation to any political party, in essence has seven times more signatures than is required by the European Referendum Directive.

The organisation will present Premier Alex Scott with the gross total 17,235 signatures on Wednesday morning.

Mr. Marsh said about 3,227 signatures could not be confirmed as registered voters due to duplication, eligibility and the use of nicknames instead of registered names.

?These were eliminated when they could not be verified,? he said.

Bermudians for Referendum?s objective, he said, was not only to request the Premier to implement a referendum, but also to inform the public as to the difference between a referendum and a General Election.

?In a referendum, registered voters can cast a ?yes? or a ?no? vote and vote directly on a major issue, but in a General Election they vote for a third person who would then make the decision for them,? he said, adding that every Bermudian should have the right to have a referendum on a major issues.

Mr. Marsh claimed this would be a unique moment in Bermuda?s history as no other petition with so many signatures has ever been presented to Government.

The signatures were collected between November 15, 2004 and June 15 this year.

The Premier is due to present the report on the Bermuda Independence Commission at a press conference on Thursday.