Former UBP deputy chairman David Sullivan this afternoon officially declared his candidacy for the upcoming by-election to be held on November 1.It will pit him against One Bermuda Alliance leader Craig Cannonier who was chosen to contest the Devonshire South Central seat after the resignation of John Barritt.Announcing his intention to stand as an independent, Mr Sullivan said “that after consulting widely with the constituents of Devonshire South Central I have been encouraged to provide a real choice for the voters of this constituency”.He added: “The blatant disregard by both the ruling party and the newly formed political party to assume that they could send any candidate from outside the constituency and the voters would just settle for it was a gross miscalculation.”Mr. Sullivan said he was “fully aware of the additional challenges that an independent candidate incurs in running”.“However the party system is clearly broken and is in dire need of repair. We only need to look at the recent primary processes undertaken by the PLP to see the disarray in that organisation. The Opposition was elected by some 16,000 voters Island-wide in the 2007 election. Since that time those elected opposition members have been through no less than three different parties. Two in the last six months.“The voters of Devonshire South Central have a proud history of consistency and of sending qualified persons to represent them in the House of Assembly. They should not be victims of the political party system gone amuck. They should not be forced to settle for a candidate. They have the right to a choice.”In a reference to Mr Cannonier, Mr Sullivan added: “Parachuting of candidates into a constituency has proven to be very unsuccessful. Frankly, I am surprised that the newest political party, for all its protests that it is not the UBP, would embrace one of the major failed policies of the now defunct UBP.”