Jason Hayward comfortably held Pembroke Central for the Progressive Labour Party (Constituency 17) in a four-way race that saw the opposition vote split.

Mr Hayward, who served as the Minister of Economy and Labour under the last PLP administration, picked up 294 votes, seeing off Sophia Cannonier, of the One Bermuda Alliance, who won 132 votes.

Ricardo Nesbitt, of the Free Democratic Movement, came in third with 64 votes, while independent candidate Rolfe Commissiong earned 52 votes.

Mr Hayward opted to remain outside the polling hall during the count. After being handed the result on a slip of paper by a jubilant party worker, he calmly declared: “That’s nice.”

Speaking to The Royal Gazette immediately afterwards, Mr Hayward, said: “I’ve worked hard in the community and I think the community have made their voices heard and that they firmly stand behind the Progressive Labour Party in Pembroke Central.”

Mr Hayward was unchallenged when he won the seat in 2020.

Referring to that election, he said: “It has been a traditionally strong seat for the PLP. However, not having an election in 2020 robbed us of having an appropriate barometer as to where we actually stood and robbed the constituency of an opportunity to participate in democracy.

“I’m pleased with the result and await the national result to see if the PLP will be the government.

“I’ve been following the election track but I wait to see the official results.

“At this point in time I’s going to thank the team that assisted me and then head over to Alaska hall to celebrate.”

One local issue that had concerned residents in the constituency is the continued debate over soot emissions from Belco’s North Power Station.

Last August Mr Hayward publicly condemned the electricity provider for repeatedly failing to tackle the issue.

Mr Commissiong, who served as PLP MP in Pembroke South East from 2012 to 2020, launched his campaign last month with a press conference outside the power plant, where he criticised Mr Hayward for his handling of the dispute.

The controversy did not appear to have any impact on the result, with Mr Hayward securing 54 per cent of votes cast last night.

Ms Cannonier, who was contesting an election for the first time said that she was pleased with her performance.

She said that she was disappointed with the low turnout – fewer than 550 ballots were cast in a constituency of around 1,200 voters – which she claimed enabled Mr Hayward to win the seat with the support of only around 25 per cent of the constituency.

Ms Cannonier said: “I’ll be back. I’m very grateful for everyone who voted for me.

“We really appreciate their support and we had some really good conversations with constituents.

“I think the FDM and the independent candidate also put up a good fight. Unfortunately it’s unlikely that were going to be able to have much influence in the next four years.”