As Khalid Wasi drops his candidacy, Tillman Darrell will run as an independent general election candidate in district 21, The Royal Gazette can report.Mr Darrell, a former United Bermuda Party candidate, will be joining Rolfe Commissiong and Jeff Baron — of the Progressive Labour Party and the One Bermuda Alliance respectively — in the contest to represent Pembroke South East.Also running as an independent is businessman and former political campaign manager, Andre Curtis.And incumbent Ashfield DeVent has indicated that he is now seriously mulling a run as an independent since Mr Curtis’ arrival on the scene.Mr Wasi, also known as Raymond Davis, told The Royal Gazette last night that he had spent months trying to persuade the OBA not to field a candidate, and did not think he had a chance as an independent candidate with both parties in the mix.“I was talking to the leader, the chairman and one or two others. And all the indications that I had was that they were not going to put a candidate there and they would support my independent candidacy.”An OBA spokesperson would not confirm that the party had engaged in such talks but said that no deal was made with Mr Wasi.He had calculated that he could have inherited the 35-40 percent of the opposition votes as well as bring home a “considerable” number of traditionally PLP votes to win the seat.“I could have won the seat but with the OBA deciding to put a candidate there, I just thought it was not worth the effort to fight between the two parties.”And Mr Darrell’s impending candidacy strengthened his resolve to pull out, said Mr Wasi.“Independents tend to be simply a spoiler vote and I don’t intend to play that role.”Mr Darrell said that initially he would have preferred to run under a party banner.“But I did leave it kind of late, and the OBA and the PLP had selected and rolled out their candidates. But, in hindsight I think I’m in better shape.”His advantage, he said, is that he knows Pembroke South East constituents “better than most” when asked why he had finally decided to throw his hat in the ring.“After the merger of the UBP and the OBA I decided to sit back and stay away for a while and see what was going to happen,” he said.But once the PLP and the OBA had unveiled their candidates, area residents began coming to him with concerns and asked if he was going to run.“I think that the constituents in that area are pretty smart and they are going to select the candidate that’s going to represent their issues,” he continued.My view is that some of those people are my family members and I think I understand them better than most.“I’ve thought about this for a while and I don’t know I can walk away and leave them, with the issues that they are faced with, in the hands of people who don’t know them very well.”For Mr Darrell, the issues in district 21 are the same as those affecting the rest of the Island but, he claims, the area has suffered from a lack of attention.“They talk about the Economic Empowerment Zone, but there are constituents in my area that haven’t benefited from it.”Mr Darrell is pledging he will give the district the attention it deserves. On housing, his campaign literature promises that he will ensure that rent control laws are enforced, affordable housing opportunities are expanded and that landlord abuse is monitored and acted upon.He also promises to ensure that low income families and senior citizens get the assistance they need to meet basic needs “efficiently, thoroughly and fairly.”And on education he will “enlist the help of companies to provide college scholarships” and “further develop” links between the Bermuda Regiment and the Bermuda College.The MP for the area is currently Ashfield DeVent but he lost out to Mr Commissiong in the candidate selection contest last year.The OBA and Mr Baron declined to comment on Mr Darrell’s candidacy when contacted yesterday.“We will wait until Mr Darrell rolls himself out before we consider making a comment,” said an OBA spokesperson.Mr Commissiong also declined to comment.But Mr Wasi said: “I know he’s worked hard and he comes from the area. He does understand the people and he’s got a lot of traction perhaps more visibility than Jeff Baron.”In the 2007 election Mr DeVent prevailed against Mr Darrell, who ran under the UBP banner, with a 274 vote majority.The One Bermuda Alliance has rolled out 32 candidates, while the ruling Progressive Labour Party has unveiled 35 candidates.