not stand up to scrutiny, says Transport Minister the Hon. Maxwell Burgess.

In calling for a boycott of the Independence referendum, the PLP leadership has said reform of Bermuda's electoral boundaries and removal of about 300 foreigners from the voters' list were two prerequisites to Independence.

Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade said that if Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan got a "yes'' vote in the referendum, he would take it to London and entrench the present electoral system in an Independence referendum.

A Constitutional amendment to change the system would then require a two-thirds majority in Parliament, plus a referendum, he said.

Mr. Burgess said it was clear the PLP leadership was "prepared to abandon Independence for political expediency''.

A referendum allowed people to concentrate on the sole issue of Independence.

In a general election, it would get confused with too many other issues, like which party could best manage the economy, he said.

"I would have thought that the PLP would have at least acknowledged that the referendum is the purest form of one man, one vote of equal value,'' Mr.

Burgess said.

"An election process would, under their argument, not guarantee that.'' Mr.

Burgess said the PLP complained about disproportionate constituencies, but "at no one time, in any election, has the PLP ever gotten more votes than the United Bermuda Party'', he said.

The UBP finished the 1993 general election with about 1,800 more votes than the PLP. But with about 200 more votes in key constituencies, the PLP would have formed the Government, Mr. Burgess said.

"Under the system now, it's very possible for the PLP to win,'' he said.

"All the PLP needed to win was not a changing of the boundaries, but 200 votes.'' Mr. Burgess said the PLP complained that UBP-held Paget East, with 1,209 registered voters in 1993, was much smaller than Warwick East, which had 2,440 voters, and in which the parties each took one seat. But the Opposition did not mention that Hamilton East, which the PLP swept, had 1,810 registered voters and was not much bigger than Paget East.

"Clearly, the question of constituency boundaries is a matter for a Constitutional Conference,'' Mr. Burgess said. "They will present their case, and Government will present their case, and the British will allow neither the Opposition nor the Government to come along with a system that is unfair.'' Further, it was "simply not the case'' that Government was asking the voters of Bermuda for "a blank cheque'' on Independence, Mr. Burgess said.

"I wish to reiterate the Government's commitment that we will not put the question until such time as we have given position papers on citizenship, on the judiciary, on how public officers are appointed,'' and a range of other constitutional issues, he said.

If the referendum resulted in a vote in favour of Independence, Government would produce a White Paper on Independence before it sent representatives to England for a Constitutional Conference, he said.

"I think it's wrong to plant yourself in without hearing what the people have to say,'' Mr. Burgess said.

The position papers, which the PLP argues are not binding on Government, will give Government's views, Mr. Burgess said.

Mr. Burgess said "the public will clearly know where we stand on the issues.

What guarantee do you have that the PLP is going to live up to every promise in their platform at election time?'' Once people recognised the "misinformation'' the PLP was putting out, even the party's supporters would see the boycott call as "invalid,'' he said.

"I just urge the people of Bermuda, be they for or against Independence, to participate in the referendum,'' Mr. Burgess said. "It's their democratic right.''