It is almost impossible to keep a secret in Bermudian politics, and thus there was little surprise yesterday when the Boundaries Commission report recommended that the Island be divided into 36 single seat constituencies.

Nonetheless, the report is required reading for anyone who cares about politics in Bermuda and to that end, the full report, along with constituency maps, will be published in The Royal Gazette on Monday.

In addition, the report is already available on www.theroyalgazette.com for anyone who has access to the Internet and wishes to read it over the weekend.

In the circumstances, the Commission seems to have done a reaonable job of coming up with a workable system that neither punishes nor rewards either party unduly and does away with the worst inequities of the current electoral system.

That does not mean that it is a perfect document. It is far from that. It is an example of compromise and, to some degree, consensus and it is clear from reading it that the two Independent memberts had to work very hard to get the two parties to reach a compromise, with by all accounts, the Government the least willing to come up from its proposal of 32 seats.

While both parties are expressing support for the number of 36, neither can be entirely satisfied.

One notable absence from the Commission's report are the actual submissions from the parties, although the admirable dissenting view from Opposition MP John Barritt goes a long way to explaining much of the United Bermuda Party's position.

It is equally disappointing that the Commission was unable to consider some of the more innovative proposals submitted to the Commission, including the Opposition's proposal for an independent Speaker (which apparently had the support of a majority of the six Commission members) and the many submissions made by members of the public for some form of proportional representation.

That's too bad, because this Commission - or a Constitutional conference - had a wonderful opportunity to have a genuine debate about the best possible form of representation for Bermuda; instead we are left with a single seat system that may be better than what preceded it, but is still inadequate.

Indeed, the lack of public participation is generally irksome. In his dissent, Mr. Barritt said that the public invariably tended to focus on the ideal number of seats for the House of Assembly and were unable to discuss specific boundaries because it is impossible to do so without knowing the number of MPs the House will have.

Mr. Barritt said that once the Commission had settled on 36 seats, it should have allowed the public to review and comment on the boundaries provisionally drawn up by the Commission before the report was submitted.

That's because the Commission's workis now done and it cannot alter its proposals. The House can approve or reject the report as it is, or the Premier can recommend amendments.

Mr. Barritt is right; it is to the eternal shame of the majority of the Commission that they shut the public out on this "watershed" development. The secrecy under whch the system was born may taint it forever.

Still, the die is cast and the public has this chance to make its voices heard. If a boundary or constituency does not fit the concept of "one man, one vote of equal value", then the public needs to make its unhappiness (or support for the proposals) clear now, because the clock is ticking.