MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands Poll says ?NO' to Sovereignty talks, but ?YES' to talks on ?Items of Mutual Interest.

Falklands Poll says ?NO' to Sovereignty talks, but ?YES' to talks on ?Items of Mutual Interest.

In a Survey commissioned exclusively for the MERCOPRESS NewsAgency of Uruguay, 97.5% of those questioned in Port Stanley gave a resounding ?NO' to the question, ?Should Britain enter into talks with Argentina to solve the Falklands Sovereignty dispute?' However in response to the question, ?Should the Falklands Government talk with Argentina on items of Mutual Interest (Oil/Fisheries etc.)', - 70% of those surveyed said YES, while only 12.5% answered NO, while the other 17.5% said that they ?DIDN'T KNOW'.

In all, 40 voters in the Stanley area were questioned. The selection covered Islanders who were born in the Falklands and Immigrants who have obtained Islander status, with the Survey being conducted over a 6 weeks period.

At the same time those surveyed were asked several questions about their Legislative Council members ? the Most Efficient, Most Inefficient, Most Popular and the Most Unpopular.

With the next General Election in the Islands just 5 months away the results may well provide some indication as to which Councillors may be re-elected, should they decide to seek election in November.

Councillor Michael Summers with 40% was considered the ?Most Efficient', with Councillor John Birmingham 32.5% and Councillor Janet Cheek 22.5% not far behind. Two Councillors, Sharon Halford and Lewis Clifton received no support whatsoever. These two were accordingly rated as the ?Most Inefficient' with 35% and 30% respectively. 17.5% of those polled said that they ?Didn't Know'.

A number of those questioned gave reasons for their selections, with several people saying that Councillor Halford had attempted to camouflage her backing for the controversial 14 July 1999 Argentine/British/Falklands Governments Joint Statement (Agreement) by insisting that the Argentine Government would be prepared in the future to drop their self-styled names, such as Puerto Argentino (Port Stanley) and Isles Bourbon (Pebble Island), in favour of the traditional English titles. Almost 2 years on and there appeared to be no indication that name changes from Buenos Aires were about to take place, said several people.Others complained that Councillor Lewis Clifton appeared to have achieved little in nearly 4 years, other than to