Dr Ewart Brown, Bermuda's new premier

Ewart Brown, 60, upset Scott 107 to 76 late on Friday in a vote by Progressive Labour Party delegates and lawmakers.

The Brown government was set to be sworn in on Monday, said Deputy Governor Mark Capes.

Scott suffered in opinion polls after launching a drive to take the tiny British mid-Atlantic territory to independence.

Earlier in his campaign, Brown had signaled he would put the independence bid on the back burner.

But on Friday he told the party conference that people wanted a leader "strategic enough, courageous enough, connected enough and, yes, stubborn enough to move them towards independence."

The incoming premier was Bermuda's tourism minister until he resigned on October 12 to campaign for the party's top post. He is credited with boosting visitor numbers and spending while bringing new air routes to the international financial center and vacation spot more than 600 miles off the coast of North Carolina.

The center-left Progressive Labour Party has picked up core support from blacks, who make up the majority of Bermuda's 63,000 residents, and is leading in polls against the opposition United Bermuda Party, which ran the island for 30 years until 1998.

A general election must occur before the end of 2008.

Brown ran a medical practice in California for years before returning to Bermuda to run for office in the early 1990s.

"I am a supporter of change and this represents change," party member and legislator Terry Lister said on Friday night. "Dr Brown has an aggressive style of leadership and that's a good thing. He's not a laid back person waiting for something to happen. He makes it happen."

Brown will unveil his government's legislative program for the coming year on Friday when parliament reconvenes after the summer break.