Next week's by-election will see political outsider Raymond Davis attempt to break the grip of Bermuda's two parties and stir up reform. Here he tells The Royal Gazette why a vote for him is not wasted.

Some might view him as a maverick but independent by-election candidate Raymond Davis said he doesn't plan to be a one-man band if he pulls off a shock win in Southampton West Central. Mr. Davis, 57, who lives on the Railway Trail in Southampton, hopes to form a new group with Opposition MPs who concede the United Bermuda Party is doomed.

He said: "I am not intending to stand as an independent between two mountains, what I am hoping to achieve is provide a doorway through which transformation can occur so people in either party who believe there is a need for transformation can come. "It may be the case that in the second day in Parliament there is a new Opposition – if I get the support of seven, eight or nine people. That is what I am trying to achieve – a new flag on the hill.

"I can't just use change as a buzz word. I have to give people a clear picture of what I am trying to achieve and say what effect an independent can have in the House."

Mr. Davis, who for years has gone under the name of Khalid Wasi before reverting to his legal name for this by-election, senses victory with voters sick of the UBP-PLP political straitjacket.

Some might see him as something of a quitter – he left the UBP after failing to get a seat nomination, he then set up the All Bermuda Congress (ABC) only for it to sit out the last election. And recently, he quit Bermuda to work in Canada.

But Mr. Davis is back this month pounding the doorsteps and says his political direction has been consistent in advocating democratic reform.

He ran in the 1989 General Election as an independent on a very similar platform to what he is arguing now, but polled just 85 votes in the twin-member seat of Pembroke East Central, although the National Liberal Party's candidate fared even worse.

Mr. Davis joined the UBP two years later but lost a primary for the right to stand in Southampton West for the party ahead of the 1993 election. Pamela Gordon was chosen instead and went on to become Premier.

And he then lost out to Jon Brunson when the UBP picked a candidate for the single-member seat of Southampton West Central for the 2003 election. He then left the party.

Mr. Davis said both the UBP and PLP are in dire need of reform. "Bermuda's politics needed to evolve beyond the stereotypes which came out of the 1960s and 1970s," he said.

"When Brunson was chosen for 2003, naturally I was disappointed because I would have wanted to run on a programme of reformation.

"My disappointment was not so much in not being chosen but the party and people not accepting the idea it needed to change.

"I began to articulate the same message with the ABC."

But he said when Michael Dunkley was chosen as UBP leader, millions of dollars began to pour into the coffers of the UBP.

"It was very, very clear to get another idea forward was not going to work. I pulled myself out of the equation."

Asked why he seemed surprised the UBP's election coffers swelled with an election looming, Mr. Davis said: "They had a number of defections, Gwyneth Rawlins, Jamahl Simmons, there was a number of people dissatisfied.

"My strategy at the time was to render that organisation to appear insolvent. In that equation we framed the argument that something new needed to be formed. But when people weren't buying into the argument, the people who were funding me began to dry up and stopped funding."

He pointed out that the two independents who ran in last year's General Election got just 67 votes between them.

"That was how hard the partisan picture was. I could feel that, so we took ourselves out of the equation as it was quite evident it was going to be strictly partisan.

"What's changed now is people have clearly understood the argument I put forward – that time has eroded the formula of what the United Bermuda Party had as a mandate."

Mr. Davis said Bermuda's politics was based strictly on race and tribalism rather than ideology, with the PLP having an unfair advantage because of the demographic split.

Now the UBP is split between MPs who wanted to change and those who wanted to keep the same formula.

"Now it is self evident that something new needs to emerge and this is the best possible opportunity to allow constituents to make that choice.

"I make a call to everyone in Bermuda, not just in the parish, who believes Bermuda needs democratic reform, that this is the opportunity to bring about the transformation we are looking for."

Asked if reforming an existing party would better ensure success, he said the parties were too stuck in their own cultures.

"Even if some kind of reformation took place within the UBP – it is not up to how they feel within the party, it is how they are perceived by the broader public. And they are not capable of changing that perception.

"It may change over generations but the question is whether the Country can afford the current balance and wait for two or three elections before there is a generation prepared to elect a reformed UBP.

"And there is nothing on anyone's lips in the PLP regarding rights towards individuals or openness towards the Country in terms of transparency, to indicate they are intending to reform."

Mr. Davis believes he will win next Thursday and he has reminded voters that this is a by-election not a General Election, therefore a vote for him poses no risk but offers the possibility of change.

He said he is not seeking to destroy party politics but to give voters more power and weaken the hold parties have on members.

"Every individual has the right to define what an organisation is."

He said the electoral system should be changed to force parties to have primaries to pick candidates.

"I want to take the autocracy out of party politics and raise the integrity of individuals and stop the cronyistic, patriarchal style of politics."

"I feel the transformation in the community, I am going door by door. They can see what I am providing is a doorway through which transformation can occur. I think I am the only hope, basically, not just for the United Bermuda Party but all those in the Country who feel that Bermuda needs to step its game up.

"I am getting that cross support from both sides."

He hopes to have visited each house by the election.

"It seems that about 95 percent of houses I visit I come away feeling my position is right. Will I get 95 percent of the vote? I am not arguing that. I just need about 35-37 percent of the vote to win."

If he doesn't win he believes anywhere from 25-30 percent of the vote will show tremendous movement in the community.

But he said a defeat would represent a tremendous loss of opportunity to reform.

"If I lose then the UBP will consolidate, the PLP will consolidate and that will be the formula going forward and you will see little change if any."

With former UBP leader Wayne Furbert publicly questioning the choice of candidate Charlie Swan it should be easier to snatch the seat but Mr. Davis realises there is a lot of work ahead to achieve anything in seat 31.

Last week Progressive Labour Party chairman David Burt was quoted as saying there was a faction of younger PLP members who had contemplated forming a breakaway party in frustration about being locked out by the old guard.

Mr. Davis said that dissent was alive and real but would not gravitate towards the UBP.

"If we were to raise a new flag that (PLP) group would also be a part of it."

But he said Mr. Burt's motive in publicly raising the issue of frustrated reformers in the PLP had been to reassure them that they were being listened to and to convince them they need not jump ship.

However he said their voices would be stifled inside the PLP and, he claimed, some PLP reformers were behind his campaign but were being secretive about it.

"I am saying I need visible support. And I have got the tacit support of Wayne Furbert, he is very much in my corner."

He said reformers inside the UBP who were considering a break away were wrong to worry that it could weaken the Opposition and strengthen Ewart Brown.

"In the worst case scenario it doesn't matter whether the Government has 22 or 23 seats. They are still going to govern."

As someone who was a former UBP member who aims to ally with UBP MPs once elected, cynics might be forgiven for worrying about whether Mr. Davis represents real change or the Opposition in another guise.

But Mr. Davis said: "One of the things the UBP lacks is basic credibility. They don't have the moral authority to properly challenge the labour Government."

And he said while the UBP was now campaigning on good governance the public would remember they did nothing about it during their time in power.

"If I win I won't sit quietly in the House warming a seat and collecting a cheque, I will bring about reform," said Mr. Davis who added that parliamentary privilege will allow him to say things he can't currently say now. "If Charlie Swan wins, the UBP haven't won anything, they will have won the battle but lost the war, the party would not have changed."

Platform points

Political reforms

1. Amend the Human Rights Code to remove the political parties from exemption which allows them the right to discriminate on political grounds. The amendment will reinforce the right of individuals to enjoy a political opinion without persecution or penalty – inside or outside of Parliament.

2. Make the Senate an elected body, one senator for each parish, to tie them to the electorate.

3. Create elected parish councils throughout Bermuda. The senators will have an office within the parish. The council will be made up of five elected councillors.

4. A freedom of information act requiring a public gallery for most government board meetings.

Electoral reform

1. Give the electorate a voter's bill of rights, which will transfer real power into the hands of the voter.

(a) Voters will have a fixed day for elections, which will be held every four years.

(b) Voters will have the right to recall elected persons if they have been absent or there is reasonable grounds for misconduct or illegal/unethical behaviour.

(c) Voters will have the right to initiate legislation through a petition to be followed by a binding referendum if they have gained significant support.

(d) When there are multiple persons choosing to run for the same organisation, there will be a primary held before the general or by-election.

Tomorrow: The United Bermuda Party's– Charlie Swan