Two Government Senators are set to team up to fight the crucial Warwick East seat, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Government Senate Leader E.T. (Bob) Richards and Sen. Larry Scott will take on the Opposition team of Shadow Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Alex Scott and teacher Dale Butler.

The United Bermuda Party duo is expected to be officially adopted at a constituency meeting tomorrow night.

But yesterday neither of the likely candidates were prepared to comment.

Warwick East UBP chairman David Summers was off the Island and could not be contacted.

But UBP insiders confirmed both men were set to be signed up to fight the seat -- vital to both parties' chances of victory at the General Election, set to be held between mid-September and mid-October.

One insider said: "The branch definitely wants Bob and Larry and I think local polls are backing that view.'' The move means that Sen. Richards's wife Pauline -- who was also polled in the constituency -- will not now form part of a unique husband-and-wife partnership in Warwick East.

The insider said: "Larry is definitely the more experienced of the two, having served in Senate, and he has a higher profile politically. But Pauline is very impressive and I certainly wouldn't rule her out as a candidate at some time in the future.'' Mrs. Richards is set to retire from her job as chief financial officer with insurance firm Aon, which has merged with Alexander & Alexander and Minet, at the start of next month.

Sitting United Bermuda Party MP and ex-Environment Minister Irving Pearman announced months ago he will be stepping down from the seat he had held since 1983.

Warwick East, together with neighbouring Warwick West and the two Hamilton Parish constituencies, are key marginals in the fight to form the next Government.

In the 1993 General Election, Mr. Pearman topped the poll with 897 votes, with Mr. Scott just three votes behind.

The tussle for third and fourth places was almost as close, with Calvin Smith of the Progressive Labour Party picking up 854 votes -- just 22 votes ahead of the UBP's Gerald Simons, a sitting MP who topped the poll in the 1989 General Election.

The NLP picked up 4.3 per cent of the vote, with 159 of the electorate backing the Island's third party -- a block which could be vital to victory this time around.

And even the share won by Independent candidate Patricia Gordon-Pamplin -- sister of Premier Pamela Gordon -- 68 votes or 1.8 percent, could be important in such a tight contest.

Sen. Lawrence Trott