Bermuda Industrial Union labour organiser George Scott turned Warwick North Central into a Progressive Labour Party bastion last night when he scored an easy victory over his United Bermuda Party opponent Yvette Swan.

Former firefighter Mr. Scott, who has run for office unsuccessfully three times before, won 479 votes compared with 345 votes for optometrist Mrs. Swan.

"I'm elated. This is long overdue," he said as he celebrated his win with friends and family at Cobb's Hill Gospel Chapel in Warwick.

"It's a maturing of Bermuda, in politics in general. The PLP has given people the right to express their opinions.

"The people have spoken and I'm going to serve them as well as I can. If people are aggrieved then

"I'll take care of their problems and bring about resolutions, as I'm used to doing as a union man."

Mrs. Swan, a former senator and cabinet minister who ran unsuccessfully in Warwick West in 1998, shrugged off the defeat and started looking to the future.

"It's not the end of the world. I never went into it saying that if I lose I'm going to be that upset.

"I did my best. I would never rule out coming back but it depends what the party wants me to do. I'm a party person and I'll just move onto the next thing. That's the way the cookie crumbles."

But she said it was a "sad state of affairs" for Bermuda that the PLP had won a second term: "People obviously voted on the euphoria of giving the PLP another chance.

"I only hope they know what they are doing."

With the total number of registered voters at 1080 and four returned ballots, the turnout for the district was 76.7 percent.

Results

George Scott (PLP) 479

Yvette Swan (UBP) 345