Michael Scott is the new MP for Sandys North, having romped to victory in yesterday's poll to replace the late Eugene Cox in the House of Assembly.

His most important task as an MP, he said, would be to continue Government's social agenda.

Close to 700 people turned out to vote - almost 65 percent of the electorate and just a shade shy of the 68 percent turnout at last year's General Election.

Mr. Scott received 414 votes against 220 for the Opposition candidate. There were two spoilt ballots. “I'm feeling this is a great day for the Progressive Labour Party. I wish to pay tribute to the former Finance Minister Mr. Eugene Cox who I would like to dedicate this victory to,” said Mr. Scott.

He attributed the strong by election turnout to “hope and expectation”. “I think there is a sense of hope and expectation for the party to commit to implementing and addressing the concerns of this constituency.”

He thanked the branch staff who assisted with his campaign.

“I promise to do my very best on their behalf as their representative for Sandys North.”

Mr. Scott's opponent, Corin Smith, declared a victory of sorts and said he definitely would run again and planned on remaining a member of the Opposition party.

“I made a concentrated attempt to get the non-participating community into the political game,” he said.

“I didn't concentrate on the established core of the UBP or the PLP, I went into the grey area. That's my constituency really.”

He said a “real obstacle” was the fact that many people were irritated by the “political mindset” of a political party.

And Mr. Smith added that his campaign had “galvanised the PLP hard core”.

“I lost the battle but not the war which is to build a bridge between the ‘haves' and the ‘have nots' and get the PLP out of the way of that bridge. Right now we have direct access to these homes that had never been canvassed before by the UBP and they had never been canvassed by the PLP either.”

United Bermuda Party Leader Grant Gibbons said he was proud of his candidate who had done a “great job” as a political newcomer. “I think it was a very successful campaign that we've seen here. I look forward to Corin Smith running again and he will be successful. In our minds he was the strongest candidate here tonight.”

Premier Alex Scott who was one of the first of many party officials and supporters to congratulate Mr. Scott, said that the constituents were confident of a responsive Government.

“The candidate is a good one,” the Premier said. “The Government has a sound reputation for the last seven months, they trust us. They heard us on the doorstep, we listened to the complaints they had on Wedco and we are going to take this issue right to the Wedco administration.

“We can't allow Wedco to continue to dissatisfy the folks that they are supposed to be satisfying. And so I I think folks felt that we were very honest, we were very sincere about our intentions for constituency 36.”

Walter Roban, the PLP's national campaign chairman said the party had adopted new methods in its campaigning and that the voters were responding to a successful government. “When you are a winner people always seem to gravitate closer,” he said.

“It was the first by-election under the single seat system so it could be essentially a little bit more focussed, but at the same time we were working with a very experienced team from Sandys, so it was easier than many other by-elections. Obviously it was a safe seat traditionally but we did employ a lot of new methods that the party has adopted over the years with technology, added to our usual grassroots approach.

“There wasn't a focus on media presence as much as local presence.”