It's now official - the Sandys North by-election is a two-man race between the United Bermuda Party's (UBP) Corin Smith and the ruling party's Michael Scott.

The two candidates exchanged the obligatory smiles and handshakes after filing their papers with Returning Officers at Somerset Primary School on Nomination Day yesterday.

Mr. Smith was proposed by his brother Gavin, who contested the St. George's North seat as a Gombey Liberation Party (GLP) candidate, while former UBP candidate and Pearman's Funeral Home owner Colin Pearman was his seconder.

Nominating and seconding Mr. Scott were branch chair Clifford Russell and branch member Shirley Foster.

The Nomination Day formalities now over, canvassing will continue apace until polling day on March 4.

Just a handful of supporters accompanied Mr. Smith, a lawyer by training, to the polling station.

In contrast, the ruling party candidate arrived in a small motorcade carrying Premier Alex Scott, party chairman Neville Tyrell, party stalwart Walter Roberts, and Mr. Russell Ms Foster. Senator Walter Roban, Sandys North campaign chair Dennis Lister, public relations officer Scott Simmons and a handful of others rounded up the party.

Both teams claimed that canvassing had been going well in the contest to find a replacement for the late Eugene Cox.

Gavin Smith said that he had been explaining to voters that his brother was the "best man for the job because he has got the vision, and he's dedicated to promoting Bermuda's actual culture, not imported culture".

"I think elections should be about the individuals not about the parties and in this instance I think he's just the strongest individual," he said.

" And people are going to be really pleased by some of the things he's going to do during his term."

He added that they had encountered numerous constituents on the campaign trail who had complained that they rarely saw their representatives.

"What they are all saying is they've never seen their candidates. Some people are saying they have never been canvassed in 20 years. They don't feel they can support anyone they cannot meet eye to eye. That's been the real surprise."

His brother, he said, had become the "PLP converter mainly because he speaks the truth and a lot of stalwarts respect that. And a lot of them feel the same way Corin does about how things have been going the last few years".

Mr. Lister, naturally, had a different tale to tell. "From my position as the campaign chairperson I think we are doing very well right now. Our candidate is being received extremely warmly on the doorstep and that's what you want," he said.

"Michael is extremely good at doing that in the living room - sitting and talking one on one with Mr. and Mrs. Public. And out of that we are looking for a great response on election day. We expect to see a good turnout on the day based on the response he's getting. He's had the opportunity to talk to people who hadn't come out at the last election who had given an indication that they will come out this time and we trust they will hold to that."

Mr. Scott reported that he had met with officials of the Dockyard quango the West End Development Corporation, and was working on addressing their concerns.

"They want to operate based on business plans. They want to contribute to the macro economic issue called Bermuda, because it is an important port there. And they're looking for support to their business plan for having an attractive port there for their larger ships and their not so larger ships so that when visitors come there they have a positive experience," Mr. Scott said.

"Of course they recognise their responsibility to the tenants as well. They see a partnership, a relationship between their revenue generating power driven by tourism and locals in the industry and being able to meet their responsibilities to visitors."

Sandys North had the lowest voter turnout during last year's General Election - with just 700 of the district's more than 1,000 voters showing up to cast their ballot.

Mr. Cox defeated UBP newcomer Gerald Fubler by 451 votes to 252.