for Bermuda. Aside from those people who are obviously committed to one party or another there has generally been a tendency in Bermuda for the average voter not to openly declare a political party preference or affiliation.

That has been particularly true of black voters since most white Bermudians were generally assumed to vote for and support the United Bermuda Party.

Black voters who supported the United Bermuda Party risked derision from other blacks and accusations that they had sold out their race, were Uncle Toms or that they were currying favour with whites. If blacks supported the Progressive Labour Party they were concerned that their affiliation might be a detriment to career and financial success in a Country dominated largely by white business and white managers. There is no doubt in our mind that employees of basically white businesses who made it clear that they were UBP supporters were looked on more favourably than had they declared PLP sympathies.

Whites who supported the UBP could be open about that support because it placed them in the mainstream of white thinking and that was where both blacks and whites expected them to be. However a white who dared to openly support or to join the PLP was almost guaranteed trouble. They were outside the thinking of the great majority of whites but it was also clear that they were unlikely to be comfortable in the Progressive Labour Party, Kathleen Bell found that.

This kind of stricture is very important in a small place and it stands in the way of Bermuda becoming politically mature. People in politically mature countries do not bother themselves very much with whether or not their family or friends are one party or another or, indeed, whether or not they switch back and forth. That is as it should be. Political choice should not be a barrier.

However it does seem to us that in the process of this campaign people have become more open about their choices and much more willing to simply state their preference and why they are thinking the way they do. It is becoming much easier to have open political discussions without concern or rancour.

This is certainly not totally true but we do think things are improving and that any improvement is a healthy sign. It seems to us that there was something rather unhealthy about talking in whispers about political affiliation. We think the whispers were probably created by a debilitating fear. Fear that one's political affiliation might work to one's disadvantage is not something that any society should support or foster.