Premier Paula Cox announced Dale Butler and Marc Bean as the official candidates for the Progressive Labour Party in the next general election yesterday.In making the announcement at Alaska Hall, the party’s headquarters, Ms Cox described both candidates as upstanding men with strong connections to the grassroots community.Dale Butler will run again in Constituency 25, an area has represented for close to 14 years.Premier Cox noted that Mr Butler has been a PLP MP since 1998 when he and former Premier Alex Scott, were victorious under the dual seat system.In fact, she said: “Mr Butler received the largest amount of votes in the entire 1998 general election.”When the PLP won in 1998, Mr Butler amassed 1,320 votes with Alex Scott taking 1,278, to defeat the United Bermuda Party’s Lawrence Scott and Bob Richards.The two UBP candidates secured 784 and 776 votes respectively, in what was then the constituency of Warwick East.When single seat constituencies were introduced in 2003, Mr Butler became the candidate for Warwick North East, and has been returned to the House of Assembly both in 2003 and in 2007.Mr Butler said: “The people of Warwick North East have kept me busy with their needs, whether it was street lighting, speed bumps, access to major roads, community development or employment.“The PLP has a strong record to stand on and I look forward to continuing to tell our story to the constituents, face to face, person to person, from one household to the next.“I look forward to continuing as the representative of Warwick North East, C25 and I hope the voters will keep the Butler in the House.”Marc Bean will be flying the flag for the PLP in Constituency 26, Warwick South Central.As the youngest elected Member of Parliament, he said: “I consider this to be one of my primary responsibilities.”He went on to say it is clear that the PLP Government have made some mistakes. “I would be the first to admit this fact and I am also willing to bear the burden of these experiences.”But at the same time he said the party can be rightly proud of its accomplishments.“The key is to learn from these experiences, repeating what has proven to be good and rejecting those items that prove to be negative.“Can we improve our performance, yes we can.“Will we continue to improve, certainly we must do so, and not just for the sake of winning the next general election, but for the sake of doing right by our people with an eye to ensuring that we create a legacy that is worthy to be inherited by our children’s children.”“I am proud to be a part of the PLP team.”Mr Bean also stated: “What is required today, in order to secure our collective future, is not the PLP of 1963.“Today, the condition that Bermuda finds itself in requires us to think and act differently from the past.“We must avoid becoming stuck within stereotypes. Times have changed, and we, naturally, must change also.”When asked by The Royal Gazette how well he thinks he will do running against One Bermuda Alliance candidate Mark Pettingill, Mr Butler said: “The numbers are not important to me, a one vote victory is a victory.“I was able to defeat Mark Pettingill in 2003, we are actually very good friends. We anticipate victory if what the constituents said they wanted has indeed been provided consistently.”In 2007, Mr Butler defeated United Bermuda Party candidate Gina Spence at the polls in the last general election by 68 votes. The final count was 494 to 426.In the 2003 election, Mr Butler defeated Mr Pettingill by 38 votes, the result was 437 Butler, 399 Pettingill.Mr Bean recently secured his seat in Warwick South Central in a by-election held in 2010, to replace former Premier Dr Ewart Brown.Dr Brown soundly defeated the UBP’s Roderick Simons in 2007 by 310 votes, the final count was 562 to 252.