In the latest in a series of articles leading up to the Independence referendum on August 15, The Royal Gazette today looks at electoral reform -- one of two reasons the Progressive Labour Party is calling on its constituents to abstain from the vote. On Monday: The history of the Independence issue.

Electoral reform is the one issue that has caused tremendous friction between Government and the Opposition Progressive Labour Party.

But is there more to it then the mere drawing of lines or the numbers of voters in each district? The PLP argue that there is. In fact they would go further and suggest that electoral reform is so important an issue that Bermudians should abstain at the August 15 referendum until it is redressed.

The PLP favours single seat constituencies that are as near equal in size as possible.

To accomplish this they favour drawing up the boundaries without regard to parish boundaries.

"First and foremost we would like to see one man one vote, each vote of equal value bought into existence,'' Shadow Labour Minister Mr. Alex Scott said.

"We in the PLP feel that is fundamental to any democracy. If we are going to move to constitutional sovereignty or Independence then this has to be the moment that we bring this into being.

"The Government wants to lock in their electoral order into the new constitution so that if there are changes they have to be done within the parish boundaries.

"To put it short, the Government intends to make little or no change to our electoral system.'' For its own part, the Government accepts that some change is necessary but the proper place to debate those changes will be at a constitutional conference after an affirmative vote for Independence on referendum day.

"The Government's position is that we continue with the parish boundaries,'' Deputy Premier Mr. John Irving Pearman said. "And we leave any questions of a redistribution within those parish boundaries to a constitutional conference.

"The parish boundaries are historically part of Bermuda and they are understood boundary lines.

"We could still do things within the parishes to make them more equal but they are known quantities and there is no ambiguity about them.

"We have used them, worked within them and used them from an electoral point of view and the Government wants to continue to do that.'' The Opposition wants to decrease the size of Parliament from 40 to 30 members because it argues that constituents are better served in that arrangement.

"Dual seat constituencies are divisive and counterproductive to democracy,'' Mr. Scott continued. "If we had one person returned from each of 30 constituencies then each politician would know our areas of responsibility.'' Such changes, the PLP argues, would make politicians more accountable to the voters because they could lose their seat in the next election if they do not do a good job.

An added benefit, the PLP suggests, would come about because single seat constituencies would discourage racial block voting. Voters would have to identify with their representative regardless of race.

And it would eliminate the practice of running a black and white candidate at elections to appease the members of either race in a particular constituency.

"There has to be real constitutional and institutional change,'' Mr. Scott added. "It we have that, then in a reasonable period of time Bermuda will become the kind of democracy we all want. And then an Independent Bermuda will thrive the way we would like.'' But Mr. Pearman said such a plan is not workable and would create more problems that it solves.

"A reduced number of parliamentarians will not give sufficient back bench on the Government side,'' he explained. "We do not see a method of reducing the portfolios in the structure below 12.

"We have 13 cabinet ministers now. The Premier is a part of that although he does not have a specific portfolio. It is the Government's view that with the increasing sophistication of our society and the demands placed on it, that 12 ministries are required.'' Moreover, Mr. Pearman said a 30-seat Parliament could present difficulties if an election brought a close result.

Consequently, when the Cabinet was formed there would be an insufficient number of backbenchers to keep the ministers in line.

Another result of a Cabinet reduction Mr. Pearman said, is that the Ministers would have to take on more responsibility.

And this would mean they would need to become full-time paid politicians to cope with the load.

"So there are two concerns,'' Mr. Pearman explained. "You would need full-time paid ministers with a very small backbench to question the ministers.'' Mr. Pearman said the concept of one person one vote with each vote of equal value was an ideal.

"I do have some empathy with the Opposition because in the current one person two vote system the value is not the same. An example of that is Paget West and Warwick East which both elect two representatives although Warwick East has almost twice the number of voters.

"Now we do have a sympathy on that. And Government is aware that we need to find answers to that but this is an issue which we will leave to a constitutional conference.'' THE OTHER REFERENDUM -- Government officials may have to brush up on their spelling before the August 15 Referendum on Ind-e-pendence.