Armell Thomas stormed to victory in the Bermuda Public Service Union presidential elections on Thursday, ousting incumbent Nigel Pemberton by 320 votes.

Speaking to yesterday, Mr. Thomas, 35, was quick to thank the 635 members of the Island?s second largest union who supported him and said he was looking forward to the ?immense challenge?.

?We have a lot of work to do,? he warned.

?I have a number of ideas which I want to follow through with over the next three years of my presidency which, with the help of others I hope become a reality. We have a number of issues which need to be urgently addressed. Communication within the organisation needs to be improved in order to keep the membership fully informed about what is going on while there has to be some changes to our infrastructure, which has not changed since 1962.?

Mr. Thomas also called for ?greater innovation? in the union?s business strategies, which he argued are lagging behind others in the 21st century.

He further stressed he had no intention of making his presidency ?a one man show?, insisting he would need the full co-operation and support of all of the BPSU?s 1,300 members to make a success of the new era.

BPSU assistant general secretary Orin Simmons conceded he was surprised by the margin of victory, but denied the result was a reflection of discontentment with Mr. Pemberton?s performance with the membership.

?I thought it was going to be closer,? he said.

?But I think people just felt Armell is a younger guy with the energy and ideas to take the union forward.?

Meanwhile, an upbeat Mr. Pemberton extended his congratulations to the new president while highlighting the ?excellent spirit? in which the election was contested. ?The camaraderie was excellent and I?m glad we got people moving a taking part. There were also a lot of young people out which was good to see. To be honest, I?m not disappointed. I came in three years ago after a ten-year hiatus and I think lay the groundwork for a younger person to come in. He?s (Mr. Thomas) is going to face challenges but I?m sure he will do quite well.?

In the elections other results, newcomer Carla Burgess secured a landslide victory over incumbent Alan Roberts in the race for the first vice-president position by 810 votes to 148.

The second vice-president post went to Maxine Hubert Watson by 508 votes to Elizabeth Perret?s 427 while Kevin Grant won a handsome 497 vote victory over Debbie Kay-Martin.

The current position of recording secretary was retained by Lynn Wade by 593 votes to 352 over Cheryl Jones.