Retired insurance salesman Edwin Carlton Armstrong will run for the National Liberal Party in the upcoming Devonshire North constituency.

And he promised to meet with the people, provide assistance and work to redress their grievances.

"It's been an honour and a surprise to me actually to be asked by my party to consider being the candidate for the upcoming (by)election in Devonshire North,'' Mr. Armstrong, 57, said.

"I'd like to participate and I think this is a nice challenge for me. I've never done anything of this nature before.'' Mr. Armstrong was born in Pembroke East in 1939. He attended Central School (now Victor Scott) and went to work as a mason and an apprentice electrician.

Later on he worked at the Kindley Air Force and the US Naval bases before emigrating to the United States in 1969.

On his return to Bermuda in 1978 he resumed work as an electrician before joining British American Insurance company a year later. After a successful career he took early retirement in 1993.

Meanwhile NLP chairman Charles Jeffers said that his party viewed the approaching Devonshire North by-election as an opportunity for voters to send a meaningful message to both the Government and the Progressive Labour Party.

In the last general election, NLP candidate Austin Thomas finished bottom of the Devonshire North poll with about eight percent of the vote.

"By electing the NLP candidate the message would be clear that Bermudians are sick and tired of politics as usual,'' he said.

"...whether the issue is education, jobs, social problems, Independence, fast food franchises or any other important topic, the will of the people must be sought, heard, understood and implemented.

"The NLP is a party of inclusion. We represent the common ground where labour and business meet. We understand and respect the rights of all people, no matter what their station in life might be, to make their contributions to the peace and prosperity of Bermuda.'' The United Bermuda Party and the Progressive Labour Party have yet to announce their candidates.

The by-election can only take place 28 days after Premier David Saul files a writ which means that the election must occur within the next week.