You have to hand it to St. George's voters. They know how to make an election exciting.

In the 2003 General Election, voters in St. George's North, which covers the old town and the eastern part of St. George's Island, returned then-Premier Dame Jennifer Smith to the House of Assembly with a scant majority of eight votes.

That vote was seen as a rebuke for her perceived arrogance as Premier, and may have contributed to her ouster as leader of the Progressive Labour Party just days later.

In the same election, voters in the Corporation of St. George's elections made E. Michael Jones Mayor in an election in which he defeated then-Deputy Mayor Mariea Caisey by just two votes.

Last week, Ms Caisey returned the favour, defeating Mr. Jones by three votes and turfing out Alderman Ross Smith, with whom Mr. Jones was campaigning, by a larger margin.

It would be dangerous to read too much into votes that are decided by such small margins. As Mr. Jones no doubt is considering now, and as Ms Caisey no doubt did in 2003, elections this close can be decided if just one person fails to vote, or has a change of mind on the way into the ballot box.

What it does say is that anyone who wants to run in St. George's needs to work exceptionally hard to get elected and to stay that way.

That in part is because St. George's faces a multitude of challenges.

Much has been written in recent weeks about the fate of development plans for the Club Med site and about whether St. George's will host Panamax cruise ships.

Mr. Jones may have erred in agreeing to be present at a press conference with Tourism Minister Ewart Brown just days before the election which did less to clarify the Club Med situation than it did to muddy the waters.

And he also ran the risk of being seen to be over-doing the politics in such a close election by tying himself so closely to Dr. Brown and the Government. But it is unlikely that Mr. Jones could be held responsible in any way for the departure of developer Wanda Dorosz, or Government's refusal to identify the new developer.

Nor can he be blamed for failing to deal with the cruse ship proposal. Indeed, the proposals for rejuvenating the St. George's waterfront were exciting, and it is to be hoped that Ms Caisey's administration will encourage a town-wide, and Island-wide debate on them.

Ms Caisey was effective in criticising the Corporation's failure to deal with more immediate infrastructure problems, and it may be that this is what tipped the balance. She will now have to make good on her promises.

This will not be easy, because the town's tax base is limited, and if new businesses and residents cannot be encouraged to come to the town, this will continue to keep the Corporation hamstrung. Part of the problems, and one that virtually nothing can or should be done about, is the large number of properties that are tax-exempt.

But the balance of the town's building owners need to be encouraged to do what they can to make St. George's a vibrant place that will give the town's managers the finances they need to keep the town functioning and thriving.

This demands that the town's leaders work together, along with Government, the St. George's Foundation, the National Trust and other organisations interested in the wellbeing of this unique town, to make it a success.