had their say. It is now the duty of elected representatives, who have not always behaved well in recent months, to honour the clear will of the people.

Supporters of Independence must have been shocked by the heavy vote against Independence. Because the voter turnout was just under 59 percent, the PLP is claiming a victory for its call to abstain from voting, yet that is not clear.

Some 25 percent usually do not vote. That leaves 16 percent divided between the PLP call not to vote, those who were distracted by Hurricane Felix, those who had not heard that the vote was on for Wednesday and those who were so disgusted by recent events that they simply threw up their hands.

Bermuda's reputation as a stable and well-governed Country with a carefully protected rule of law has been damaged. We live well because of that reputation. It is time to stop damaging Bermuda to suit personal agendas.

There is no room for politicians to go on issuing threats.

Recent polls demonstrated that a majority of both races were not in favour of Independence even though the white majority was higher. These polls also told us that a slim majority of PLP supporters did not favour Independence. No one "stole'' Independence. The people did not want it. The politicians must accept the will of the people.

In the wake of Sir John Swan's resignation, the ruling United Bermuda Party has a duty to Bermuda and to Bermudians to stop fighting and choose a new leader, "get its act together'' and get on with settling Bermuda down and working - hard - on its problems. If the UBP does not do that, it will not be forgiven by the voters.

The choice of a leader is really an internal UBP decision. However, there are some things the ruling party will have to remember.

Those four or five people who have strongly and openly advocated Independence and have tried to hold Bermuda to ransom by threatening their Cabinet resignations, have been repudiated by the voters. The voters have told us that they do not want Independence but they have also told us that they do not want bullying behaviour from leaders. Therefore there will be a temptation not to reward these people who attempted to have their own way when the wishes of the people were very clear. That would be a mistake. Bermuda is not big enough and the UBP is not big enough to foster divisions. There needs to be togetherness and healing and a new leader needs to be keen to achieve that and to lead by togetherness. The UBP will also need to remember that Bermuda and Bermudians are most comfortable and most together when their politicians are in the middle ground. The great talent of Sir John Swan was his ability to achieve consensus in Bermuda. In choosing a leader the UBP should be careful to avoid the extremes.