With more spin doctors than visitors in Bermuda on an overcast November day, the one sure thing about yesterday's General Election should have been the result. Of late, Bermudians have been polled more often than prize Hereford bulls.

But the prevailing view on the hustings from one end of the Island to the other during election hours was that no-one could say who was going to win.

That's not strictly true. Everyone in the race said they were going to win, even the candidates of the National Liberal Party, who were plainly not about to form the next Government with just four candidates running.

But no-one a reporter spoke to would forecast a victory with any genuine degree of confidence, except for Jennifer Smith, leader of the Progressive Labour Party. She has been describing her team as the "incoming Government'' for so long that a good number of people, perhaps enough people, have come to believe her.

"Our first action tomorrow morning will be to unite the Country and move forward from there,'' she said, assuming that the celebrations, the party's party as it were, would have slowed to a point where anyone would have time to be united.

But General Elections in Bermuda are notoriously unpredictable affairs. Last time out, in 1993, one PLP candidate reportedly forgot to knock on anyone's door and the party crashed and burned. No amount of polling predicted that would happen.

Those standing for election this time, from the oldest to the newest, reported having knocked on anywhere from "99.9'' to "110'' percent of the doors in their constituencies.

A close election, which this one appeared to be turning into as the day wore on, is decided on such esoterica as Quinton Edness's back condition, Alex Scott's "UBP's Mafia connections'' allegations, Delaey Robinson's hairstyle or the ability of Kenny Bascome to completely upset the applecart in St.

George's North.

In an election this close, the problem is not divining the outcome, but framing the question.

For their part, the voters were largely glad it was all over. "Another week of this and I've have gone crazy,'' said a voter at Whitney Institute, the polling station for Smith's North. "I don't know who's going to win and I don't care...,'' said another, "...as long as someone does.'' If no-one could predict the outcome, potential disaster scenarios were two-a-penny. A dead heat, followed by a Constitutional crisis, was the favourite. A heavy storm, followed by Government Information Services' results website going on the fritz, ran a close second.

Government released all the results on the web, as if anyone outside Bermuda gave two hoots. If the site had gone down, the results might have taken until Friday to collate.

But disasters were, perhaps, wishful thinking. At ground zero, the 1998 General Election was a curiously cool affair, despite the whole shooting match opening three weeks ago with a report from the Police Service of bomb threats and the need for tightened security.

The stakes were already high enough without a disaster of any sort.

Whoever wins will have to deal with Great Britain, the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Development and even the United States, all hungry to grab a piece of income tax-free Bermuda's offshore wealth.

Even more difficult will be the task of fulfilling the expectations a General Election arouses as a global economic slowdown gathers pace.

But all that lies ahead. At the polling stations, from one end of these islands to the other, Election Day was a time for boundless possibilities, a time to promise much and not really have to deliver a thing.

Today will be different for the new Government.

At the Swizzle Inn, a large crowd of American visitors were stunned to hear that the two parties had fought a largely clean election. Few could believe that change might be in the air. "You guys have no income taxes and hardly any crime,'' said a bemused New Yorker. "From where I'm sitting, you live in paradise. Why would you wanna change that?'' His partner smiled. "Anyway,'' she said, "it doesn't matter who you vote for. The government always wins.'' ELECTION REPRINT SPECIAL ISSUED 13th NOVEMBER 1998