Devonshire South last night in a twin triumph for Government.

And last night new MPs Kim Young in Paget East and Michael Dunkley in Devonshire South said the results reflected well on Premier Pamela Gordon's leadership.

Mrs. Young said: "The victory was wonderful for the UBP -- it sent a clear message as to who they want to lead the Country.'' And Mr. Dunkley added: "I'm overwhelmed by the support shown not only for me and United Bermuda Party, but also for all my colleagues in my campaign team.'' He said: "It's a tribute to Premier Pamela Gordon and I think to my campaign as well.'' The double-header win came despite a percentage drop in voter numbers in both constituencies.

But Ms Gordon said last night: "I was extremely pleased because the turnout has been consistent with our by-elections.

"One of the things which was very clear was a resounding victory for the UBP and a very significant defeat for the other two candidates in both contests.'' Mrs. Young took a massive 87.8 per cent of the 676 turnout from a possible 1229 voters in Paget East.

Mr. Dunkley took 68.8 per cent of the 1,190-strong vote out of a possible 2,172 electors.

Craig Walls, the Progressive Labour Party candidate in Paget East, avoided being beaten into third place by UBP maverick and Independent candidate Sanders Frith Brown by only one vote.

Unlike Paget East, where there was a single-seat by-election in 1994, comparison is difficult in Devonshire South where the last polls were the 1993 election where two seats were contested.

Fisherman Danny Farias took 22.2 per cent of the vote compared to the 34.2 per cent he and running mate Richard Lynch took in 1993.

But the third-place showing of National Liberal Party chairman Charles Jeffers could spell the death penalty for the Country's third force in politics.

Mr. Jeffers said before the election that the NLP needed at least 25 percent of the vote to maintain credibility -- but he got only nine percent.

Last night, however, he was not rushing into any decisions and said he would sit down and reassess the situation from both a personal and party point of view.

Progressive Labour Party leader Jennifer Smith could not be contacted for comment last night.

But Labour and Home Affairs Minister Alex Scott was putting a brave face on the double defeat and chose to highlight the fact that Mr. Farias' personal share of the vote went up from 16.3 percent to 22.2 percent.

He added: "If we were to have that same kind of swing at a General Election -- that's the Government.

UBP's twin triumph "Danny Farias was a legitimate candidate for Devonshire South -- the PLP momentum begun at the last General Election continues.'' Mr. Scott did not appear to account for the fact that Mr. Farias' share of the vote in the by-election came when votes were cast only for him. In the General Election, his running mate, Richard Lynch also gained about 16.3 percent of the vote for an overall PLP vote of about 34 percent.

By comparison former Premier David Saul and incumbent MP John Barritt, both of the UBP, each took about 33 percent of the vote for a total vote of about 66 percent of all votes cast compared to Mr. Dunkley's 68 percent last night.

Mr. Scott also predicted that the result for the NLP would be the party's death knell.

He said: "It must be the beginning of the end for them.'' Ms Gordon said it was not for her to comment on the future hopes of the NLP -- or the Opposition PLP.

She added the UBP's results spoke for themselves and dismissed PLP talk of a low turnout as a smokescreen in the face of significant victories.

Ms Gordon also played down claims that she was responsible for a feel-good factor in the voting.

She said: "I don't know -- that would be extremely arrogant or puffed up with my own self-importance. I feel very grateful for the outcome and if the perception is that there is a difference made as the result of my Premiership, then I have a major job ahead of me to make sure I don't let the voters of Bermuda down.''