HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC):

Bermuda's flamboyant but controversial Premier Ewart Brown appears to hold the key to the outcome of Tuesday's general election in which the ruling Progressive Labour Party (PLP) is seeking a third successive term in office.

Most opinion polls during a generally uneventful six-week campaign - the discovery of a bullet in a package addressed to the Premier and intercepted by postal workers during the past week provided unexpected drama - have placed the PLP in front.

Some analysts believe there could be a photo finish with a margin of victory of just two seats - with either the PLP or the opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP), bidding for a comeback after nine years out of power, taking the spoils in an election where a record number of voters are eligible to cast a ballot.

Both parties are fielding a full slate of 36 candidates and two independents have also thrown their hat in the ring.

The UBP ran this isolated 21-square-mile north Atlantic island for 30 years before it was toppled by the PLP in a 1998 landslide after many disillusioned middle-class blacks who had supported the UBP switched allegiance and voted for change.

Island's racial make-up

The PLP was re-elected in 2003, collecting 22 seats to the UBP's 14 in a remodelled House of Assembly the UBP won around 48 per cent of the popular vote. Two PLP MPs in St. George's each got in by just eight votes.

All of the PLP MPs were black while six of the UBP's MP were white, a reflection of the island's racial make-up with 60 per cent of the 65,000 population black and 40 per cent white. A total of 3,013 more people have registered since 2003, bringing the number of voters to 42,337.

The Bermuda election comes against the backdrop of political upheaval to the south where three incumbents - in The Bahamas, British Virgin Islands and Jamaica - were ousted in general elections earlier this year. Bermuda, which enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world, has close ties to the Caribbean.