of UBP party rules.

Mr. Soares last night abandoned his campaign to stand against former Senator Gary Pitman in the Pembroke West by-election primary.

The seat has been vacated by Social Services Minister Clarence Terceira, who retired from politics after his 70th birthday.

And premier Pamela Gordon will now fix a date for the by-election because there is no longer a need for a primary contest between United Bermuda Party candidates.

UBP regulations would not have allowed Mr. Soares, from Spanish Point, to contest the primary scheduled for January 23 because of time restrictions.

Approved candidates are required to have gathered the support of ten party members 14 days before any primary.

The UBP code of conduct also stipulates that candidates cannot be approved unless they have been party members for at least 30 days.

Mr. Soares was only officially approved as a candidate yesterday, as he did not join the UBP until December 17.

But the deadline for submitting the signatures of 10 party members had already passed.

And a Pembroke West branch meeting of the UBP is understood to have decided on Wednesday that the primary date could not be shifted.

Mr. Soares said: "I have not pulled out. I have been ruled ineligible because of the rules and regulations.

"I have not been a party member for long enough and gone through the correct qualification process.

"You need at least 44 days between becoming a member and contesting a primary and that just wasn't possible given that the primary date was January 23.'' He said party bosses could not step in and change the date because any UBP primary must be held within 21 days of the outgoing MP's resignation.

Mr. Soares added: "There is no error made and I am not blaming or criticising anybody in the party.

"It's a regrettable result, mainly because I know from my experience on the campaign trail that I have a lot of support in the constituency.

"There will be a lot of disappointed people out there and I will not be standing anywhere else.

"I will simply have to wait and see in future if I can stand for the Pembroke West seat.'' Mr. Soares said he had spoken to the Premier and she had "expressed disappointment but knew everybody's hands were tied''.

He added: "She was happy to see that there was fresh blood coming into the party.

"I have not spoken to Mr. Pitman but this is clearly no fault of his and he can go ahead now and have his name put forward by a special general meeting of the party branch.'' Mr. Pitman was unavailable for comment last night.

There had been speculation that powerful figures in the UBP were trying to spoil Mr. Pitman's bid for a Parliament seat because the party's campaign committee was apparently ignoring the regulations to give Mr. Soares a shot at the primary.

It was reported that battlelines in the constituency were hardening into an insider versus outsider fight between local man Mr. Soares and party chief Mr.

Pitman.

But businessman and former UBP candidate Ramadhin Smith, who considered a primary run but pulled out, said he would be backing Mr. Pitman earlier this week.