The United Bermuda Party's (UBP) Smith's South branch chairman David Tavares has resigned the position to serve his party in 'other ways'.

And the branch may soon have to decide between him and Trevor Moniz as their adopted candidate.

The Royal Gazette understands that Mr. Tavares has plans to become the branch's adopted candidate following the ouster of Mr. Moniz from the Parliamentary group.

But Mr. Tavares declined to be specific about his intentions.

Meanwhile a number of United Bermuda Party (UBP) supporters are working to get Mr. Moniz back into the party fold, he claimed.

Last week former Parliamentarian C.v. (Jim) Woolridge publicly criticised the decision to oust Mr. Moniz from the party's Parliamentary group which meant he stands as an independent representative of Smith's South in the House of Assembly.

Mr. Moniz remains a member of the party and there is nothing in the party's constitution excluding him from being adopted as an election candidate by a branch organisation.

Asked when the branch plans to make a decision on its adopted candidate, Mr. Tavares said the matter had not yet been considered.

He later confirmed reports reaching our offices that he had stepped down from the chairmanship.

In an interview with the Mid Ocean News last week, Jim Woolridge, who retired his Smith's South seat last year after 33 years in the House of Assembly, said Mr. Moniz's ouster from the parliamentary group was a "fundamental error" and "purely vindictive".

He added that he felt Mr. Moniz can retain a seat in Parliament even if he ran as an independent. The endorsement is significant in that Mr. Woolridge is exceedingly popular among the constituents and had, during last summer's Smith's South by-election, decided to endorse the party's chosen candidate Max Burgess as his replacement in the House of Assembly - demonstrating to the voters that the UBP's old wounds had healed.

Both Mr. Moniz and Mr. Woolridge were members of the so-called "People's Five" which opposed former Premier Sir John Swan's Independence initiative and his later effort - with Mr. Burgess as a partner - to introduce the McDonald's hamburger chain to the Island.

Asked about his political ambitions yesterday, Mr. Moniz would only say that the UBP - and the Country - would be better off with him back in the party fold than otherwise,

"I think for Bermuda you're going to get a better situation if you have two parties of fairly comparable strength," he told The Royal Gazette. "What if Trevor Moniz only had one percent support across the Country, wouldn't you rather have it than not have it...? It's not a question of what I want to do it's a question of what's best for the Country."

Mr. Tavares said the decision to step down was made "about two weeks ago". But just last week, in his capacity as branch chairman, he officially notified Mr. Moniz of the branch's "regret" that Mr. Moniz had been unsuccessful in his application to have the party whip restored.

"Regrettably, we must now move on to find a suitable candidate for adoption," Mr. Tavares wrote in the letter dated January 25.

As to whether his resignation had anything to do with the branch's need to adopt a candidate, Mr. Tavares said only that he wanted to serve the party in "other areas".

"In due course I guess we'll determine where we go from here," he said. He said he did not know if there were others acting to have Mr. Moniz come back into the party fold. "I'm sure Mr. Moniz is capable of taking care of himself... The branch will have to entertain any application," he added. "My understanding is when someone is removed from the whip they cannot be automatically selected. All that remains to be seen."

It remains to be seen is who will be the branch's next chairman. Darius Tucker is the deputy chairman.