He’s yet to declare a single candidate for an election which could be just around the corner but All Bermuda Congress spokesman Khalid Wasi is convinced — when it comes they will win it.And for those who scoff at the likelihood of pulling off such a stunning political debut he points to Bermuda’s history.

Mr. Wasi, who expects a summer election, said the PLP was formed in February 1963 and ran in the May 1963 election — picking up six seats.

“I think history is going to repeat itself,” he said.

He too would be happy with six but if the UBP disbands, as his strategy requires, then he predicts outright victory by picking up 20 seats.

Premier Ewart Brown is a formidable opponent admits Mr. Wasi. “But I believe Bermudians will vote for a change for good.

“My prediction is there will be popular ground support. Enough to cause more implosions on the UBP side.

“Then I think we will be able to put the right candidates in the right constituencies to be able to get a majority victory.

“It would be a useless exercise otherwise. I plan to win.”

The new grouping, which is campaigning for citizens to have more control over politicians, hopes to unveil candidates by the end of March.

He won’t name who is interested but former independent MP Stuart Hayward is on record as expressing broad support while disaffected Opposition MPs Jamahl Simmons and Maxwell Burgess have both ruled out standing.

He says already 15 people are willing to stand — mostly in their forties.

“A few business owners and self employed. Some currently in the civil service,” said Mr. Wasi.

The aim is to get people standing in all 36 constituencies.

It needs a machinery on the ground to get the vote out. “There’s a body of people — it’s pretty huge.”

And Mr. Wasi said interest groups, which he wouldn’t name, also planned to back the party.

On finances a confident Mr. Wasi said: “Oh, we have cash, enough to pull off the election. Money is not a problem.”

But while the structure might be shaping up it would be fair to say Mr. Wasi is more of an ideas man — wanting Bermuda to be a model for the world in offering its citizens more political rights.

He says the ABC is not so much a party but more a coalition of independents who agree on the fundamental values such as accountability and upholding human rights.

It involves a different constitutional framework with a voters’ bill of rights meaning MPs could be forced to run in by-elections if disgruntled constituents feel their representative has breached a new code of ethics or simply neglected responsibilities.Mr. Wasi laments the fact MPs are not valued for their individuality and says the parties should be subject to the human rights code if they discriminate against mavericks.“Now parties can discriminate against individuals if they don’t articulate the party’s viewpoint at any given time.”

He cites the withdrawal of the UBP whip from Trevor Moniz several years ago and the expulsion of people from the PLP although he accepts people have the right to association and to form political organisations.

But the interests of the country should be paramount over party, argues Mr. Wasi, who said parliament needed to be more accountable to the people.

“The wave of the 21st century is for more democracy and inclusiveness,” said Mr. Wasi who branded the warning by Labour Minister Derrick Burgess for foreigners to stay out of politics as outdated thinking in a global economy.

Other rights would include a right to housing.

“If a parliament decides to go on a spending trip and neglects basic issues such as housing then the populace could actually hold up that budget — it is the individual’s rights and funds.”

Holding up the nation’s finances sounds a drastic step but Mr. Wasi said other parliamentary business could continue during the hold-up.

It’s a massive step beyond the 1960s constitutional model which he said never envisaged full democracy and rights for people.The argument against more direct democracy, in which the people take political decisions beyond voting every four or five years, is that politicians are paid to manage the country and people have their own lives to run.But for Mr. Wasi that was an outdated system for an uneducated population, although he conceded direct democracy has its practical limits.

“What the public needs, at the very least, is a hand brake where if things are going astray they should have at least have a check and balance.

“It’s time we got beyond the black and white historical race issue.

“We live in an era of multiculturalism.

“Without picking on any names I personally welcome the day when the Tolarams and the Kessarams and the Chings and the Mings become also part of the political landscape because they are in fact present.”

Mr. Wasi’s project relies largely upon the UBP folding — not something it seems inclined to do, despite its very public splits.

He said that party needed another Jack Tucker in its midst, realising massive change was needed.

“My idea doesn’t have much practical merit as a third party, a voice trying to squeeze between the UBP and the PLP.”

He hopes a wave of popular support will continue the UBP’s implosion but so far the polls don’t hold out much hope.

A January poll taken after several embarrassing UBP resignations put support for the PLP at 36 percent, support for the UBP at 19 percent and support for an unspecified independent party at just 2.5 percent.

And a poll a year ago found only 12 percent of people questioned thought the All Bermuda Congress would leave a major mark on the local political scene.

But the signs are there now he says.

“Just about ever other person I meet is either expressing full support or there is the discussion about the fact that the UBP has become increasingly irrelevant.”>Forums will start this month and candidates will emerge naturally said Mr. Wasi who believes the media miss the point by trying to find who will run for the ABC.

He said there was dissatisfaction with all the established political parties.

“There is the fear that the labour party under the current political construct is actually dangerous for the country.

“Not because it is the labour party but because the unchecked system that has lacked accountability from the beginning is now in the hands of a group which is formidable and perhaps sees no need to change the formula.

“Whether there is or isn’t corruption is not the issue.” He said the system should guard against human weakness.

Mr. Wasi isn’t a newcomer to the political scene.

He was chairman of the Southampton branch of the PLP in the 1970s but then stood as an independent in 1989 in Pembroke East Central before joining the UBP in the 1990s.

But he lost the argument that it needed to rebrand or die.

Watching the party implode he believes history has proven him right.

The ABC concept has been on his mind for nearly ten years but had grown to the point where it was “on the streets”.

It would be fair to say Mr. Wasi is more of a concept man than a detailed policy wonk.

Asked what the nuts and bolts policies of the ABC are he immediately talks about the need to include members of the Opposition in Cabinet, perhaps on a proportional basis to their vote.

Later he gets in touch and lays out some of the policies (see sidebar), adding: “We would chose the right persons to do what is in the best interest of Bermuda i.e. put people who are environmentally conscious in portfolios that need such sensitivity.”

Echoing Ewart Brown’s ‘back me or I am off’ stand of last October Mr. Wasi said he would not be trying again if the ABC doesn’t pull it off.

Mr. Wasi who at 55 believes the opportunity to pull off a life long dream of political reform is now.

“I am not here to promote myself as leader.”

[obox]The first ABC forum is on March 14 at St. Paul’s Anglican church in Paget at 7 p.m, entitled: “It’s your turn”

Wasi plans to win