Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons was upbeat after last night's narrow defeat, preferring to stress his party's progress rather than rue the 80 missing votes which cost him power.

He said: "A sitting Premier was almost evicted from her own seat by a margin of only eight votes. Renee Webb won by only eight votes.

"We fought a great campaign and obviously I congratulate the PLP on their victory.

"The people have spoken. It was extremely close. There was around 70 votes in it.

"You look at Kim Swan and Mark Pettingill and you add up the four seats with a separation of around 70 votes."

Despite the loss of experienced shadow spokesmen Erwin Adderley, Tim Smith and Allan Marshall, Dr. Gibbons pledged to carry on the fight in the House of Assembly.

"The Premier should have gotten the message that the Bermudian people are looking for fair, honest and open government. Our message of inclusivity resonated with the people we spoke to."

Asked whether the UBP could ever bridge the electoral gap Dr. Gibbons said: "Absolutely, we are on our way.

"Like a phoenix we have risen from the ashes.

"We will continue to build on the gains made."

He said some of the party's newer candidates could have benefited from more time to get established.

Asked if the party's and his own personal image as being establishment would always be a millstone around the UBP's neck Dr. Gibbons said the party had made gains with its diverse group.

"We are more representative of Bermuda than the Progressive Labour Party."

Mark Pettingill, who narrowly lost his clash against Dale Butler in Warwick North East, lamented that the public had again been wooed by the PLP's appeal to the past.

He was non-plussed about what more his party needed to do to get elected, other than gain trust.

"Honestly there is nothing that is lacking, this is a party of sincere people.

"They (the PLP) are divisive and racist. We will not go forward as a country with that type of leadership. I dream of better things for my children and my colleagues children.

"I hope in order to win elections you don't have to drag up the spectre of 1958 in order to do it.

"We had a vision of the future, they had a nightmare of the past. But their ability to conjure the nightmare clearly won out over the dreams of the future."

A physically shattered John Barritt said many factors could have tipped the balance against the UBP. "This is the first election where you have one-on-one campaigning. The difference could have been between effective canvassing and canvassing.

"It could be that people bought into the PLP's campaign of we've only had five years, you've got to give us another five years.

"Tonight is not the night to make firm decisions about where to from here.

"We have time to reflect on and examine the results and decide what changes are needed and I am sure the Progressive Labour Party has to be doing the same thing based on tonight's result.

"Look at how close they came to losing their leader and Renee Webb, a key cabinet member. I would be very surprised if they didn't look closely at their leader."