supporters in full force, the Pembroke West Central candidate said yesterday.

Mr. Hayward warned that such "haranguing'' could hinder Bermuda from solving vital problems.

And he urged leaders to rise above negative campaigning and take responsibility for "healing the country''.

But Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan refuted the Independent MP's accusation that the election campaign had been "dirty''.

And he blasted Mr. Hayward, claiming he was holding himself up as a great puritanist who could cause chaos if he held the balance of power in a coalition government.

Yesterday morning Mr. Hayward said: "There are too many wounded people in our community and, in their hurt, they are lashing out, wounding others in the process.

"We see it in the schools where children are acting out their rage on each other; we see it in homes where the rise in family violence is evident; we see it in the workplace where the battles between labour and management have become unhealthy for the economy; we see it in Parliament where the struggle for power makes some grown men and women behave in ways that are disrespectful to themselves and their Country.'' Mr. Hayward stressed that the media also must commit itself to "fair and accurate reporting'' and decline from printing "poison letters -- especially anonymous ones''.

One example of negative campaigning was an attack on campaign workers in a Royal Gazette editorial last Tuesday, he said, adding that many of them did not have the opportunity to defend themselves.

Speaking for those campaign workers, campaign manager Mr. Reid Kempe yesterday said The Royal Gazette Editor was wrong to speculate that Mr. Hayward's 1989 campaign workers were disillusioned with his performance.

Mr. Hayward said the editorial sparked "a flood of letters'' from his 1989 campaign workers.

He urged the electorate to see through the "litany of promises, the fog of public relations gimmicks'' and "beyond the politics of expediency''.

In the afternoon the Premier hit back. He said: "It has not been a dirty campaign by any stretch of the imagination. We have stuck to the issues. There has been no mudslinging. In fact I was talking to Mr. Frederick Wade only today.'' Sir John said that Mr. Hayward had made attacks about the environment but could not accept it when people argued with his views.

He said: "He puts himself up as a do-gooder and an environmentalist but he now thinks he is an authority on everything and he is constantly harping on about morality.

"Each organisation is doing its best to say how they will serve the country.

"If Mr. Hayward ever held the swing vote in a coalition it would throw the Country into chaos, because he would continually jump different ways and just cause confusion.'' The Premier said that kind of indecisive government would destroy the good work of the United Bermuda Party over the past two decades both at home and internationally.

He said: "We do not need an indecisive government. We must ask the public to give us a clear mandate to continue in government.'' Later in a press release the UBP continued their attack stating that Mr.

Hayward had confused issues and stalled vital projects. It said: "The election is just too important for us to be throwing away our votes on an independent. However well intentioned he may have been.''