face'' to hundreds of Bermudians studying abroad who are registered to vote, the PLP charged yesterday.

The number of registered voters aged 18-25 on the Parliamentary Registrar has swelled to 3,200, with many starting or returning to college early next month, Opposition leader Mr. Frederick Wade said.

Seventy young Bermudians alone left for Allen University in South Carolina this month, he said.

The United Bermuda Party was depriving those youngsters of their right to vote, he claimed. Even if an election was called tomorrow, he said, it would be too late because Government must give 17 days notice.

Mr. Wade was speaking during the PLP's weekly Press conference at which two new candidates, both longtime trade unionists, were announced.

Outspoken docks worker and BIU vice president Mr. Chris Furbert will run against the Hon. Harry Soares UBP and Mr. Tim Smith UBP in Paget West.

And Bermuda Telephone Company employee and former president of the BIU Telephone Division Mr. Michael Cox will carry the PLP banner in Pembroke West, where he will be up against Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira and Dr. David Dyer UBP.

Both men pledged to fight to find things for the youth to do in their constituencies.

Mr. Wade said the candidates would add to the diversity of "the PLP team'', which would be "a multi-talented Government meeting the needs of all Bermudians''.

"A PLP Government having lobbied so successfully to get the voting age reduced (to 18) would not turn its back on its commitment to the youth,'' Mr.

Wade stated. "We would not promote a policy which would exclude our youth, depriving them of their right to exercise their basic democratic right -- the right to vote.'' It would not matter whether the election was called later this year or early next year, the students would still be away at school, he noted.

"The overseas student vote will be disenfranchised. It is grossly unfair for the Premier (the Hon. Sir John Swan) to have had the entire summer to call an election yet to have opted not to.

"The students were here, ready, willing and eager to participate in the election and to exercise their right to vote. Instead they were slapped in the face as the Premier put political expediency and self interest over the interests of the youth and their right to have a voice in the electoral process.'' Mr. Wade said a few students may have the funds to be able to return to the Island to vote, however, most would not.

"It must be deliberate and by design that our youth are being systematically disenfranchised by this UBP Government,'' he said.

Mr. Cox, 44, a telephone technician at Telco and nephew of Shadow Finance Minister Mr. Eugene Cox, said he wanted to be accessible to the people of his constituency.

"They deserve a candidate to whom they can talk,'' he said. He would also strive to address complaints of Pembroke youth that they have nothing to do.

He felt the PLP had the "proper blend'' of people needed to run Bermuda. Mr.

Furbert, 41, a former soccer player, stevedore and president of the BIU Port Worker Division, has undergone extensive training in industrial relations in Bermuda, America and the West Indies.

He has fought for better working conditions, including winning protective clothing and major medical benefits. And he represented stevedores in a recent docks dispute which resulted in widespread industrial unrest.

He has been vice president of PHC sports club since 1985.

Youth in Paget West also felt there were not enough activities for them, he said. One of the things he would lobby for in that regard, he said, was a type of amusement park.

He chose the PLP as his party because it represented labour, he said.

"With the support of the PLP and BIU, we can make the Country that much stronger,'' he said.