Despite having guilefully bested his political counterparts from the NDP, PVIM, and PU in a heated and sometimes suspenseful race to win the government only hours earlier, he assumed a tactful posture in his address to the territory.

“Election campaign was a bruising one and we need reconciliation where politics has deepened divisions among us,” the Premier said. “I call on everyone to leave the campaign behind us. Let us not hold on to past grievances. Let us move forward as one people.”

Premier Wheatley also touched on his newly-formed administration’s agenda as they enter a new term in office. The leader of government business said at the top of that agenda is reform.

Other priority areas he highlighted include, “better roads, better infrastructure, better public services, sustainable development, and balanced economic growth that benefits all our people.”

The Premier further noted that his government would share a comprehensive list of priorities “in due course”. Dr Wheatley pointed to the low voter turnout at these elections and promised members of the electorate who abstained from voting this year that his government will do everything in its power to boost their confidence in the political system.

He concluded his address by assuring the wider public that, his administration “will be a government for all of the people”.

“It is the only way to heal,” he stressed.