officially announced as candidates for the seat held by Opposition leader Jennifer Smith.

The St. George's North branch of the ruling United Bermuda Party are set announce the two at a meeting in the constituency.

Mr. Swan -- a golf pro -- and retired Shell Oil boss Mr. Stewart will team up against Ms Smith and newcomer Deleay Robinson.

Ex-Finance Ministry Civil Servant Mr. Robinson was picked as Ms Smith's running mate after the death of sitting MP Leon (Jimmy) Williams last month.

Mr. Swan, the professional at St. George's Golf Club, got into his swing two years ago after being adopted by the local branch.

And he is understood to have been campaigning hard in the St. George's area since then.

But Mr. Stewart is set to face a harder battle with only weeks remaining before the General Election -- likely to be held mid-October -- is called.

The seat looked a safe PLP bet -- but the death of Mr. Williams has brought in newcomer Mr. Robinson, who, although running alongside the party leader, has had little time to make his mark on the area either.

And that could leave the way clear for one of the United Bermuda Party candidates to pull off a shock result and split the seat between the two main parties.

Branch chairman Robert (Skippy) Lewis declined to comment on who might be running.

And he also declined to speculate on what effect the loss of a sitting MP might have on the UBP's chances.

Mr. Lewis said: "I wouldn't like to hazard a guess on that at this time -- it's just to early to assess.

"I would say that Kim Swan has been working very hard and I'm sure his efforts will be rewarded if he keeps up the good work.'' And he added: "We will have another candidate coming on board -- he will have to get out and meet the people so they can judge him as well.'' The PLP gained a seat in St. George's North in the 1993 General Election when Mr. Williams beat sitting MP Phillip Smith into third place.

Ms. Smith topped the poll with more than 33 percent of the vote, followed by Mr. Williams on just over 22 percent.

Mr. Smith got 20.1 percent, just ahead of UBP running mate Michael Jones with 18.3 percent. Independent Albari Assalaam picked up just four votes -- 0.2 percent of the poll.