A freshly formed local organisation is calling for an end to party politics on the Island.

APPROVE -- Anti Party Politics with Real Ordinary Voter Endorsement -- spokesman Richard Powell told The Royal Gazette last night that the group was calling on everyone who supported the idea to turn out at the Wesley Methodist Church Hall on October 2 at 7.30 p.m.

The group also placed an advertisement in yesterday's newspaper asking if people were "prepared to stand up and be counted''.

Mr. Powell -- who owns Lines Food and Liquor Mart on Ord Road in Warwick -- said: "There are seven people involved and they have asked me to be the spokesman. We all feel the same way and that is that party politics are tearing this Island apart.

"We would like to see party politics abolished in Bermuda.'' He declined to reveal the other members of the group. "They are ordinary people just like me who are totally fed up with seeing the stupidity going on in the House of Assembly. They argued about hamburgers for a year and a half.

Is this what we are paying these people for? He said the other members were concerned about what might happen to them if their names were made public.

"They are worried about their futures. I expect both parties to fight this.

If it falls apart I would imagine there will be a certain amount of fallout from both parties.'' Mr. Powell compared Parliament to the Corporation of Hamilton.

"Government is at loggerheads all of the time. One party brings up an idea and the other criticises it.

"Then you have the Corporation whose members are voted in independently by the taxpayers in the City of Hamilton and they work to the benefit of the city.

"If two parties ended up in the Corporation of Hamilton, would anything get done? Hamilton would grind to a halt.

"The Corporation works together for the benefit of the city. They are moving forward while Bermuda is moving backward.'' Mr. Powell said it did not matter who was in power either. "Party politics create a reactive Government not a proactive Government. If the PLP get power they will govern in the same fashion.'' He pointed out that Government also ran its business behind closed doors.

"What goes on in Caucus and Cabinet? Bermuda is being governed in secret. Why not discuss everything in open Parliament?'' He said he envisaged a Government running Bermuda in the same fashion as the Corporation did its work with 40 independent members voted into the House to work for the betterment of Bermuda. Three Members of Parliament would be selected to run each Ministry by the House Speaker, he continued, or they could volunteer for which post they wished to fill.

Instead of fighting one another the Ministers would have to sit down and come up with solutions. "They would be given responsibility and be held responsible,'' he said.

"The way this could be brought about very quickly is if the House of Assembly was petitioned, by more than 50 percent of the voters, to produce a white paper and have a referendum on whether party politics should stay or not. The House of Assembly would have to react.''