The United Bermuda Party last night lost three key Shadow Ministers when the Progressive Labour Party held on to the majority vote in what turned out to be a closely-fought General Election.

The House of Assembly will see a number of changes when Parliament re-opens for the new session, with regular faces on both sides of the Chamber removed and replaced with new ones.

Shadow Education Minister Tim Smith was forced out of Parliament by just eight votes when Tourism and Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb scraped through in St. George's South with 449 votes to his 441.

That was just one of a number of very marginal victories, where a handful of voters were responsible for the ultimate outcome.

Shadow Telecommunications Minister Allan Marshall lost out to Government Senator Patrice Parris in Smith's North, where she picked up 481 ballots to his 358.

She will now swap her seat in the Senate for one in the House of Assembly, instead.

But one of the biggest surprises of the night was the margin with which Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Erwin Adderley lost to Government Minister without Portfolio Neletha (Honey) Butterfield in Pembroke West Central.

She romped home with an impressive 510 votes to his 239, while Independent candidate Stuart Hayward picked up only 51.

What many people believed would be a very close battle turned out to be an easy victory for Ms Butterfield in the end.

Last night a disappointed Mr. Adderley said although he would be gone from the House, he was still more than willing to play an active role in Bermuda politics.

"I knew it was a risk I was running," said Mr. Adderley.

"I stepped out of a safe seat to run there because that's the only chance we had of forming a Government. I knew what the risk was. I'm sad, but it's not a shock or a surprise. I was going into a PLP stronghold."

However, Mr. Adderley said what was a shock was the large gap between the number of votes they each picked up.

"I did not expect the margin to be so big," he added.

"It disappointed me because it means that I misread the populous. But, I'm not dead. I don't know what my leader Grant Gibbons is going to assign me, recognising that I'm no longer a Member of Parliament.

"But I will do whatever he asks me to do, but in terms of my academic skills and experience, I think I'm qualified to continue to evaluate what's going on up at the new senior school site."

Mr. Marshall said he also realised that his fight was destined to be tough in Smith's North, especially as he was up against Government Senator Ms Parris.

But at the end of the day, he said he had to accept the way the residents had voted.

"The politicians get to speak for five years on the trot and then the voters come out once every five years and this is the result," he said.

"I think we always knew that this constituency was an uphill battle. Needless to say, I worked very hard at it, and my team and committee likewise did the same. We tried to focus a lot of attention on the new areas, and we now respect their decision. I wish the new candidate all the best."

But Mr. Marshall said he had not yet thought about his future political career. He said he planned to spend time with his wife and children as they had missed him during his last six years as a Senator and then MP.

"I thought it might be a little tighter and I wish there had been a closer margin, but it was an uphill battle," he added.

"But I still think this is a winnable seat down the road for the UBP."

Mr. Smith was not available for comment last night.

Government backbencher Delaey Robinson, who previously stood in St. George's, will no longer be making an appearance on the benches in Parliament after a single term in the House. He lost to Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons in Paget East.

Dr. Gibbons enjoyed a landslide victory with 762 votes to Mr. Robinson's 183 in the UBP stronghold.

And Government MP Rev. Wilbur Lowe, who also previously represented St. George's for one term, was forced to bow out last night when he lost a hard-fought battle in Hamilton West to former UBP chairman and MP Wayne Furbert.

The UBP winner walked away with 502 votes to Rev. Lowe's 441.

However, there will be few changes forced on the Senate as a result of yesterday's General Election.

Although no fewer than six Senators attempted to move down to the Lower House by standing as candidates, only one, the UBP's Neville Darrell, was successful.

He comfortably won the Warwick West seat with 516 votes to the PLP's Chris Furbert, who is also vice president of the Bermuda Industrial Union, who came in with 346 votes.

Mr. Darrell said he was "honoured" and "humbled" to have been elected.

"I'm feeling exhausted, but thrilled at the opportunity of representing the people of Warwick West," he said.

"I knew that I had been in the area working and talking to people, and I knew the people. I knew this election would largely be won on the basis of canvassing. I felt like I really knew the people."

And asked why he believed he had won, he said: "As I say sometimes, I can tell you what I did and how I did it, but why is sometimes more complex. I think the people of Warwick West looked at me and said this is the individual person that I want to represent me."

Government Leader in the Senate and Housing Minister David Burch had another failed attempt to become an elected Member of Parliament when he lost to the UBP's Maxwell Burgess in Hamilton South.

Sen. Burch attracted 387 votes to Mr. Burgess's 493.

Government Senator Calvin Smith also failed to make the transition into Parliament when he fell down to UBP spokesman and relatively new MP Jamahl Simmons in Pembroke West.

Mr. Simmons easily made it over the post first with 544 votes to Mr. Smith's 303.

PLP Senator Michael Scott lost out to the Opposition's Jon Brunson in Southampton West Central, where he picked up 367 votes to the UBP's 496.

And UBP Senators Kim Swan and Rev. Leonard Santucci were both left disappointed after they failed to win sufficient votes to move into the House.

Mr. Swan lost to the PLP's new kid on the block Dean Foggo by just 22 votes in St. George's West, where the votes read 445 votes to 423, and Rev. Santucci lost to Government backbencher Wayne Perinchief in Pembroke Central, where the count came in at 406 to 331.