The Progressive Labour Party is scheduled to unveil its candidate for the by-election in Smith’s West next week, the Premier said last night.

David Burt made the announcement after he was asked why the PLP had not yet announced a candidate for the seat, left vacant after Opposition MP Trevor Moniz stepped down on August 3.

The One Bermuda Alliance later declared Vic Ball, a former senator, as its contender for Constituency 9.

Mr Burt said: “I think they knew there was going to be a resignation and they had their candidate already lined up.

“We had an internal process to follow and I am not going to short-circuit that process.”

He added that the party pitched for candidates interested in standing for the seat after a meeting of the PLP’s central committee,

The by-election for Mr Moniz’s seat must be held before October 3.

Mr Burt also responded to a claim by Craig Cannonier, the Leader of the Opposition, that he had engaged in a “political PR stunt” by posting a letter online that he had sent to Mr Cannonier which highlighted the $30,000 price tag for a by-election.

Mr Burt sent the letter after Mr Cannonier spoke about the possibility of other resignations as he announced Mr Ball as the OBA Smith’s West candidate.

The Premier and Opposition leader had skipped their regular weekly meeting and Mr Cannonier said that if the Premier had questions for him, he could have asked him through their regular social media connection on WhatsApp instead of writing a letter he later made public.

Mr Burt said last night that “the unfortunate thing with by-elections is things get political”.

He added: “The Opposition leader made a very distinct statement in his press conference where he said he was expecting there to be additional resignations.”

Mr Burt said he did not “play political games” but had intended to be “completely fair and transparent”.