In spite of the spin being put out on Wednesday's by-election in Pembroke West result, neither party can take very much satisfaction from the result.

The United Bermuda Party's Jamahl Simmons held the seat vacated by Gary Pitcher for his party, and held the share of the vote which the UBP has garnered in recent years.

Both parties can claim that turnout tends to be low in by-elections, but that cannot mean that they are happy when just 55 percent of eligible voters go to the polls as they did on Wednesday.

The UBP did achieve what it needed to in holding the seat and demonstrating that it remains a viable Opposition.

But if UBP leaders were hoping for a mid-term protest vote against the Progressive Labour Party Government, or a vote of confidence in new Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons, they will be disappointed.

And the fact that the UBP failed to get significant turnout in the by-election should also concern party organisers. Just 55 percent of registered voters came out for the poll, which suggests that the UBP get-out-the-vote machine requires more oil before the next General Election.

Having said that, considering that Mr. Simmons was an untried candidate coming in from outside the constituency with relatively little notice, they should, to borrow a sporting phrase, be happy to take a win, no matter how ugly.

For the Progressive Labour Party, there should not be much satisfaction either.

Premier Jennifer Smith said candidate Carvel VanPutten increased his share of the vote, but that is not correct. Mr. Van Putten took 40 percent of the vote in the by-election, about the same proportion that he took in the General Election after taking into account that he was the sole PLP candidate running against two UBP candidates.

For a truer example, this by-election result was almost a carbon copy of the February, 1998 by-election when Rodney Smith took 400 votes to Gary Pitman's 604. By that measure, the PLP has failed to make up any ground at all.

Equally, the number of people voting for Mr. VanPutten fell from the General Election, when he gained 521 votes. Had he achieved a comparable turnout this time, he would have been within spitting distance of Mr. Simmons and the PLP could rightfully have claimed a moral victory.

If the PLP was hoping for a rousing vote of confidence in its performance in government thus far, it did not get it and Mr. VanPutten's argument that he could get more done for Pembroke West as a Government MP did not wash either.

The PLP played the favourite son angle for all it was worth in this campaign, and also tried to question Mr. Simmons' integrity, given his almost unique membership of all three parties.

Neither form of attack seemed to work, and some of the attacks were fairly vicious, suggesting that negative politics may have had their day.

In the end, the status quo in Pembroke West was maintained and the challenge for both parties as they head towards the next General Election will be figuring out how to get the voters enthused again, because if this by-election stood for anything, it would appear to be voter apathy.

Given that the economy has remained fairly robust in the wake of September 11 and that neither party has been able to seriously wound the other on other issues, there isn't much for the voters to get excited about.