The Anglican Bishop of Bermuda called for calm and unity, last night, as the Island moves away from the election.

On Tuesday night the Progressive Labour Party swept to re-election after a campaign that had widely been condemned as the nastiest in Bermuda's history.

As the dust settled yesterday, Anglican Bishop Ewan Ratteray said he was relieved the six weeks of endless insults and campaigning were over.

Bishop Ratterary said: "The result of the 2007 election was something of a surprise as I was expecting it to be rather closer. However, like many I am very glad that the campaigning is at an end.

"The nastiness that we have seen over the past few weeks was both unseemly and unworthy of those who so indulged themselves for purely political ends.

"I would hope that such behaviour will not happen in the future. It is also my hope and prayer that a more positive spirit will now prevail so that the many needs of the country may be met by those who have been elected to Parliament."

Dame Jennifer Smith, who won in St. George's North on Tuesday, had warned it was going to be nasty campaign when Premier Ewart Brown announced the candidates more than six weeks ago.

The mudslinging quickly started with name-calling, e-mails featuring Dr. Brown next to dictators and the push-polling controversy.

In the last weeks of the campaign, Post Office sorters found a letter containing a bullet addressed to Dr. Brown.

Activist Stuart Hayward said he feared the result of the campaign would be a formula for winning and urged politicans to create a code of conduct for all elected leaders.

He said: "My fear is that the uncivil and sometimes raw words and conduct during the election will be viewed by some, both inside and outside the PLP, as a good formula for winning.

"Political parties should establish and enforce codes of conduct for their members. The same should be done by schools, churches, and sports and workmen's clubs.

"We live on an exquisitely beautiful island. The least we can do is to adjust our conduct to match."

Nevertheless, Ottiwell Simmons, former Progressive Labour Party Party Chief Whip, said he did not see anything wrong with the exchanges between the two parties.He said: "This type of electionering ... I don't see it as something very bad. It was something taken very seriously by the two sides. The Government was defending its position and the Opposition was giving its position.

"There was very good party campaigning. Good in the sense that people were serious. The leaders of both parties were serious and tried to discredit each other and that's the nature of politics.

"People went to the polls and voted their consciences and they got a result and the result is quite acceptable and the community should go ahead and return to normalcy."

Khalid Wasi, who attempted to form the All Bermuda Congress (ABC), said the only way to end negative electioneering, however, was for the UBP to disband.

He said: "As long as the contest is a contest between the UBP and the PLP that's what the election is. Not the issues or style of the Government.

"It comes down to a question of where the UBP goes from here. If the UBP did not exist and another entity was there, then we would have a argument about the issues."