A name has been chosen for the Island’s new political party with the merger between the United Bermuda Party and the Bermuda Democratic Alliance said to be “just days away.”Those involved are keen to keep the new name under wraps but they have hinted it will be “something new, but not completely new.”They say the two parties look set to become one by the end of the week to give people “a viable alternative” at the next general election.No one was willing to spill the beans about the new name last night, but it is said to have taken quite some time “to sift through the possible names put on the table.”BDA Pembroke West MP Shawn Crockwell called the party’s new name “significant to Bermuda” saying: “It is representative of who we are and what Bermuda as a whole is looking for.”While BDA Warwick West MP Mark Pettingill said: “We’re confident people will be happy with the name we have in mind. It’s a name that reflects Bermuda.”The “lengthy merger process” is said to have included lots of behind-the-scenes meetings and phone calls between the main players from the UBP and BDA.Talks between the two parties started before Christmas but both parties have wanted the time to work things through issue-by-issue.They insisted it was “not a marriage of convenience” but rather a new party to “put Bermuda first without carrying any baggage.”All those involved are now said to agree on “most issues” so they are looking to quickly move things forward.Sources say everyone is keen to have the new party up and running well before the House of Assembly resumes on May 13.Mr Pettingill said: “It’s not going to be in weeks or months, it’s going to happen any day now. It is just days away.“Things have moved along well and we are in a good position to take things forward. Am I optimistic it will be soon? Yes I am.”Mr Pettingill explained that he saw it as “more of a transformation” than a merger of two parties.He said: “It is two parties deciding in the best interests of the country to pull together their resources to create a viable opposition. We are all working for the best interests of Bermuda.”The Royal Gazette recently reported that UBP members previously opposed to the amalgamation have now conceded the 47-year-old party needs to fold if anyone is to seriously challenge the Progressive Labour Party.It is understood that some UBP members had been reluctant to allow the demise of the party, which ruled for 30 years until 1998, while the BDA wanted the new group to distance itself from UBP’s legacy.Mr Pettingill said they couldn’t please everyone hinting that those ‘UBP ‘til I die’ people were refusing to support the new party.He said: “It has been somewhat of a compromise, a bit of give and take on both sides. No-one was ever going to get everything they wanted, so yes, we are going to lose some people along the way. But that’s just the way it goes.”Mr Crockwell said he hoped the people of Bermuda appreciated the hard work that had gone into getting the new party off the ground.He said: “We definitely think it’s going to be soon. It will definitely happen sooner rather than later.“The country deserves to have a more effective and unified opposition party. It has taken quite some time but we have put a great deal of thought into this. There have been some legitimate concerns about how we were going to make this work.“We’ve taken a good long look at this. We didn’t want to rush and be blamed for putting something together haphazardly. We’ve always put Bermuda first.“We think we have used the time wisely and come up with something Bermuda can be proud of.”The UBP did not respond to requests for comment.