In this photo released by the Caymanian Compass, Kurt Tibbetts, leader of the People's Progressive Movement, celebrates in the early hours of Thursday in George Town, Cayman Islands after his party won the general election with nine of 15 legislative seats. (Photo: AP)

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) - Voters have opted for a leader who has promised a referendum to win more autonomy from Britain, according to official results Thursday from a general election in the world's fifth largest financial centre.

Kurt Tibbetts and his People's Progressive Movement won nine of 15 legislative seats, government spokeswoman Patricia Ebanks said.

Ousted leader McKeeva Bush's United Democratic Party won five seats and an independent candidate won one seat, she said.

The new legislature will be sworn in May 18.
Bush,who won his own seat in a landslide, conceded his party's defeat early Thursday and said he would work from the opposition to confront "tremendous challenges."

"The people have spoken. This is democracy," he said.
The fiercely contested elections, which pitted two candidates who differed in how they would get greater autonomy from Britain, drew 78 per cent of the electorate to the polls Wednesday, according to official results.

Bush would have had a new legislature change the constitution to give more power to elected officials and less to the British governor general.

Tibbetts promised to call a referendum on the issue.
Another hot issue was the residence status that Bush's government gave to more than 3,000 foreigners in 2003, some of whom had lived in the islands for no more than several months.

Forty-five candidates contested elections in the three-island financial haven where 13,000 of the British territory's 45,000 residents were registered to vote.

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