The dust has settled and politicians are calling for peace and unity in their Christmas messages.

After last week's election both Premier Ewart Brown and interim leader of the UBP Patricia Gordon-Pamplin have asked for Bermudians to work together for the good of the Island.

It was the longest campaign in living memory and many pundits said it was the nastiest too.

But both parties are now calling on people to work together and heal rifts.

Dr. Brown said: "December's election campaign often descended into personal attacks and pitted us as Bermudians one against the other.

"Yet this is the season of harmony and peace. Let us remember that, and unite as one Bermuda aglow in the light of the holiday spirit.

"Our expressions of goodwill must not be confined to just this yuletide season.

"Christmas is more than one day; its sentiments are meant to be within us throughout the year.

"When the carols are no longer sung and temperatures have warmed, "goodwill to all men" is still required of us."

He added that 2008 holds much promise for the Island.

Interim UBP leader Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin said: "It is good in the wake of an election during which forces of division played upon this island that we should have Christmas.

"For Christmas reminds us, just as an angel proclaimed to shepherds in a field so long ago, that we can have "peace on Earth and goodwill toward men.

She wrote that former leader Michael Dunkley "spoke of the need to move Bermuda to a higher, better place" and "an island of decency, where our people see each other as Bermudians first".