New United Bermuda Party MP Mark Pettingill has hit out at what he calls the indoctrination of young people by the Progressive Labour Party.

Mr. Pettingill, who won Warwick West as his party fell to its third successive defeat, said the PLP had fought a very effective and divisive racially-based election campaign.

He recalls eight-year-olds rushing up to his car window shouting 'PLP, PLP'.

He told The Royal Gazette: "I was always encouraged to find my own way politically, make my own choices. The PLP is on a campaign of mass indoctrination, certainly if you give them their mass rally gatherings.

"We have seen rally gatherings throughout history with messages not necessarily what one would have hoped for a harmonious country.

"But standing there with the Black Panther salute and plantation rhetoric isn't going to lead to a harmonious future in this country."

Some UBP MPs have been mulling over whether to split with the party, arguing that the PLP's overt racial campaign would be repeated at the next election ¿ again dooming the UBP to failure.

Asked about disbanding the UBP, Mr. Pettingill said: "It is something to be candidly considered because what the PLP will do is poison the minds of young people with speeches like (Lovitta) Foggo made in St. David's so 14-year-olds will obviously vote nothing but PLP at the next election.

"It is a sad reflection of what we have come to.

"I don't believe the PLP has any interest now in really trying to address harmony between the races in this country. It is quite clever and very, very sad for those of us who want to see one Bermudian community," said Mr. Pettingill who has voted PLP before and still has close friends in the party.

He took heart that some in the PLP had registered their disapproval of those tactics.

"But the PLP are the only ones wanting to take us back to the plantation ¿ they run everything going forward on the basis of the past. They don't have what I call the 'Mandela approach' which is something we should all be embracing."

He said the UBP stood for equality and racial harmony and supporters said it needed to stay the course and not quietly die.

"If we continue to do that, whatever the opposition, that will eventually resonate with people.

"Sometimes in history that approach has taken years to accomplish but it is going to be very difficult if you have a party that will continue to infect your youth with the bogeyman of the plantation, those types of speech and comments were disgusting and shameful."

Asked how the UBP could break out of its malaise he said: "I think some of the players are going to necessarily have to change.

"In my view it's important to have some key black individuals that share that true vision that are prepared to join the party. That is key. I was very disappointed. I tried to get a number of outstanding black people I knew involved and they just weren't prepared to do it."

Many are non-political, but he urged them to consider what type of Bermuda they wanted for their children.

It wasn't about the UBP being more welcoming said Mr. Pettingill, it was about new people having the courage and vision to come forward said Mr. Pettingill who defended some of the UBP's lesser known candidates who got attacked by the PLP for being nobodies.

"What we need is a movement of people who sincerely want a country that is a mix of people.

"But the stronger movement now in this country is of 'we don't need white people,' maybe they are right on that, maybe they don't need white people but white people are here. Surely that can't be to right-thinking people the way to go. Especially as we are becoming such a melting pot racially in every other sense."

Some pundits claim the UBP made too much of corruption allegations in the lead up to the election and should have played more on other issues to win over floating voters.

Mr. Pettingill said his own campaign in Warwick had centred on crime, education, housing and health. "But to try and get the other side engaged in meaningful debate on those issues was almost impossible.

"As far as the issues there can be no question, hands down, to any reasonable, sensible observer that the United Bermuda party had a better platform and addressed the real issues far more than the PLP.

"Had people been able to sit back and be completely colour blind there is no question that sensible people across the board would have voted UBP on the basis of that plan.

"Either the message didn't sink in or people just didn't care because the PLP tactic was effective and resonated with them.

"But on political philosophy or ideology both parties are certainly not that far apart, except on the race issue. But I could never join any party that allows members to be as polarising and divisive."

He said the rhetoric was more extreme than 20 years ago and was now a proven election winner, likely to be brought out again next time.