GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) ? Voters ousted the Cayman Islands leader and opted for one who promised a referendum to win more autonomy from Britain, according to official results Thursday from a general election in the world's fifth largest financial sector.

Kurt Tibbetts and his People's Progressive Movement won nine of 15 legislative seats, government spokeswoman Patricia Ebanks said.

Ousted leader McKeeva Bush's United Democratic Party won five seats and an independent candidate won one seat, she said.

The new legislature will be sworn in May 18, Ebanks said.

Bush,who won his own seat in a landslide, conceded his party's defeat early Thursday and said he would work from the opposition to confront "tremendous challenges."

"The people have spoken. This is democracy," he said.

The fiercely contested elections, which pitted two candidates who differed in how they would get greater autonomy from Britain, drew 78 percent of the electorate to the polls Wednesday, according to official results.

Bush would have had a new legislature change the constitution to give more power to elected officials and less to the British governor general.

Tibbetts promised to call a referendum on the issue.

Another hot issue was the residence status that Bush's government gave to more than 3,000 foreigners in 2003, some of whom had lived in the islands for no more than several months.

Forty-five candidates contested elections in the three-island financial haven where 13,000 of the British territory's 45,000 residents were registered to vote.

It was the first election since Hurricane Ivan in September destroyed 70 percent of buildings on Grand Cayman and since a a major scandal in 2003 indicated Britain's MI5 was buying secrets about Caymanian banking clients. Britain said its intelligence agencies may have helped in the investigation but never interfered in a failed money-laundering case.

Last year, after much resistance, the Cayman Islands signed on to a European Union directive agreeing to exchange information on interest made by EU country citizens with offshore bank accounts. The agreement came after the directive was broadened to apply to all tax havens, including other dependent British territories such as the Channel islands and non-EU countries such as Switzerland.

Wednesday's was the first election shaped by political parties and clear candidates for government leader in the Caymans, where personalities and independent candidates dominated in the past. The election was originally scheduled for November, but it was postponed because of the destruction caused by Hurricane Ivan.

On the Net:

Cayman Islands Elections office: www.electionsoffice.ky