A candidate seeking election to Trinidad and Tobago's parliament has followed in the footsteps of Bermuda's Dr. Ewart Brown and given up his dual US citizenship.

The Associated Press reported this week that calypso singer Winston (Gypsy) Peters said he had given up his dual citizenship to run for parliament in the December 11 elections.

"I told Uncle Sam that I was born in Trinidad and Tobago and my desire at this point in time is to represent the people of Trinidad and Tobago -- here is your citizenship,'' Mr. Peters told supporters at a rally of the governing United National Congress in northwestern Chaguaramas.

He then broke into a rendition of the 1960s calypso song, Portrait of Trinidad, singing the line: "Trinidad is my land and of it I am proud and glad.'' His move came after the opposition People's National Movement party asked election officials to bar Mr. Peters and fellow candidate William Chaitan from the election because they held dual foreign citizenship.

Mr. Chaitan is a dual national of Canada and it was not know yesterday if he had renounced his extra citizenship.

The Trinidadian constitution bars such citizens from holding legislative seats.

Opposition candidates also accused the two men of committing fraud because they did not declare their foreign citizenship on their candidacy application forms.

In 1998 Dr. Brown announced he had dumped his US passport and performed the oath of renunciation required from those who renounce their citizenship from the US in a bid to defuse controversy over his right to sit in Bermuda's House of Assembly.

He had argued that he was legally entitled to hold a seat in the House and a US passport but acted to end confusion and deprive the then-UBP Government of General Election ammunition.

Dr. Brown insisted that the Constitution should be amended to remove problems for dual citizenship Bermudians in the future and Premier Jennifer Smith included an amendment to the relevant section in her plans to amend the Bermuda Constitution.