Candidates for seats on the corporations running the City of Hamilton and the Town of St George will be able to throw their hats in the ring today.

In the capital the distribution of seats will be four for residential electors and four for business ratepayers.

In St George the allocation is six seats for residential voters and two for business ratepayers.

The confirmation of election details, posted in the Official Gazette, follows a near 10 per cent slump in the number of business ratepayers registering to vote in Hamilton, with 383 signed up to take part in the poll compared with 423 when elections were last held in 2019.

The number of municipal residents in Hamilton registered to take part in the vote is 576, virtually the same figure as four years ago, which stood at 591.

In the Town of St George, 47 businesses and 1,317 municipal residents are entitled to cast votes, compared with 55 business ratepayers and 1,333 residents recorded in 2019.

Government plans to abolish corporation elections and appoint unelected members form the backdrop to the elections.

The City of Hamilton has taken its battle for survival to the Privy Council in London, but the Government does not expect a ruling until 2025 at the earliest.

As a result of the legal action, Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch, the Minister of Public Works, got Parliament to limit the term times of corporation members elected next month to two years.

During the voter registration drive, Hamilton mayor Charles Gosling had called for a show of support from the public and the business sector as the City battles the Government over the abolition plans.

Mr Gosling said that the fall in business ratepayer voter registration was “unfortunate and disappointing”.

The mayor also said he was in favour of peace talks with the Government as he rejected claims by Colonel Burch that a “war of attrition” was going on over how the island is run.

Legislation passed by the House of Assembly would end municipal elections, with the Government, instead, appointing mayors and half of the councillors.

The remaining councillors would be picked by the relevant minister on the recommendation of a selection committee.

The City of Hamilton argued that the change was unconstitutional because it would give the Government “overwhelming” control of the municipalities and their properties, which would amount to an illegitimate deprivation of property.

While the City has lost its case in the Bermuda courts, the appeal to London is a last-ditch effort to halt the change.

Colonel Burch told MPs last month: “This is obviously a war of attrition. The reality is that we are 21 square miles and we really have two governments.

“We have a municipality who runs the City and controls the main dock and imports into the country, and you have a government that has to ask them for things.”

The elections will take place on May 11.