has also changed since Bermudians last voted.

In 1989, the long-governing United Bermuda Party was on the defensive, criticised even by one of its own candidates as dominated by an old guard that needed to step aside.

The Progressive Labour Party, which described itself during that campaign as "the only existing party of Bermuda's future,'' counted Mr. Julian Hall, Mr.

Nelson Bascome, and Mr. Dennis Lister among its young, new faces in winnable seats.

The table has turned, and the UBP is hammering on the point as October 5 approaches.

The party's pre-campaign advertising blitz highlighted about 20 new and somewhat new candidates, six of them running in constituencies the party considers safe.

"We felt it was very important to get across the fact that we've really had a quiet revolution from within the party,'' campaign chairman Dr. Grant Gibbons said.

The UBP points out that not a single Opposition MP is stepping down and charges that no new candidate is running in a safe PLP seat.

"The extraordinary thing about this election is that it is the incumbent Government that is presenting change,'' said Management and Technology Minister Sen. Michael Winfield, who chaired the 1989 campaign. The PLP was "entrenched in yesterday.'' While acknowledging the shift in the Government party, the PLP downplays its significance. Sen. Alex Scott, the PLP's campaign co-chairman, said the new face of the UBP was "a political trick which would be worthy of Houdini.'' Some of the new candidates "are going to prove to be cannon fodder,'' he saiid. Even if one accepted that six new UBP candidates were running in safe seats, they were running under the umbrella of a party whose philosophy had not changed in 30 years, Sen. Scott said.

The UBP's "new face'' is one example of how the political landscape has changed markedly in five years.

At the time of the last vote, the UBP faced challenges not only from voters who saw the ruling party as smug, unresponsive, and irresponsible in its handling of Airport construction, but from a Concerned Bermudians group that counted the Hon. C.V. (Jim) Woolridge (not then Tourism Minister) among its members.

That group, which was mostly worried that Government would move toward Independence at the expense of domestic issues, has since dissolved. Grousing from backbenchers is still heard, but the party presents a united and more responsive front.

The PLP, which believes it is poised to take power for the first time, is also working at presenting a new face. Party leaders say the PLP has supported international business since 1963, but this year they are visiting exempt companies and actively trying to woo business while soothing its fears.

At no time during the 1989 campaign did a PLP candidate say the party's "policy is to bring expats into the country,'' through expanded international business, as candidate and campaign co-chairman Mr. Terry Lister recently told The Royal Gazette .

The increasing importance of international business caused the shift, Sen.

Scott said. "The PLP has changed its approach to the electorate, and to problem solving for the future in the Bermudian economy.'' But signals from the PLP are mixed. The UBP points to Opposition Leader Mr.

Frederick Wade's claim that he would inherit a "bankrupt'' country if elected as evidence that he does not have a firm grasp of the Island's finances.

"One saw an effort of them trying to appear responsible and trying to appear like a Government in waiting,'' Sen. Winfield said. "The pity of it for Bermuda is that they've failed in doing that.'' The lowering of the voting age to 18 from 21 is another change -- one that has become a campaign issue. The PLP has criticised Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan for holding the election when many of the newly-enfranchised voters are off the Island.

There are about 3,300 more registered voters than in 1989, and the PLP believes a majority of the youth vote will go to them. But the lowered voting age is something of a wild card. In other countries, first-time voters have not been a major factor in deciding elections.

Drugs are still a top concern, but the environment has faded slightly as an issue since 1989, when concerns about overdevelopment and the Tynes Bay Incinerator were at a peak.

Many features of the political landscape are the same. Nobody wants to talk about Independence, PLP comments have renewed fears that they would introduce income tax if elected, and the UBP continues to knock the PLP as a party incapable of managing the economy.

The threat of recession in 1989 has given way to worries over the closure of the US Naval Air Station. Each was downplayed as "a manufactured issue'' by the PLP, and "as much as things change, some remain the same,'' Sen. Winfield said.

Sen. Scott replied that the recession did not have to affect Bermuda as much as it did. The fact there were Bermudians who lost jobs or saw full-time jobs reduced to part-time was another change in the political landscape, making training and retraining a major issue, he said.

"The promise of economic security that the UBP suggested they would bring at the last general election never materialised,'' he said.

In announcing the election, Sir John said that because the UBP anticipated and planned for the downturn that "ravaged the rest of the world,'' Bermuda "has come through this recession remarkably well.'' OCTOBER 1993 ELECTION