Sinn Fein win West Tyrone by-election

Posted by Jim on May 4, 2018

 

Sinn Fein has retained its Westminster seat for the West Tyrone
constituency after 26-year-old solicitor Orfhlaith Begley polled over
16,000 votes for the party in Thursday’s by-election.

She becomes the first female MP for West Tyrone in her first election
outing.

Sinn Fein registered a 4% decline in the party’s vote share while its
nationalist rivals in the SDLP gained 5%, reversing a swing in the
other direction in last year’s election.

There was an overall increase in the nationalist vote share by just
under 1%, due in part to the absence of the Green Party and independent
candidates.

The DUP saw some of its voters turn to the UUP as unionists protested
the party’s support for Brexit and its failure to return to
powersharing with Sinn Fein. The Alliance Party also improved on its
2017 electoral performance.

The drop in Sinn Fein’s vote had not been unexpected following a series
of controversies in the weeks leading up to the election, including a
return by the party to a policy of ‘unionist outreach’ as well as the
strongly pro-abortion stance adopted by party leader Mary Lou McDonald.

Ms McDonald was accompanied by the party’s leader in the Six Counties,
Michelle O’Neill when the result was announced at 2am on Friday
morning.

She hailed the election of Orfhlaith Begley as a vote against Brexit
and a vote for a return to Stormont. She said she was not concerned by
the decline in her party’s vote share, which she blamed on the
relatively low turnout of 55.1%, down from 68.2% in last year’s
Westminster election.

“In the last election, Sinn Fein took a massive percentage share,
winning 50 percent of the total vote in West Tyrone,” she said.

“All the predictions were that it would be impossible to come close to
that result but tonight, Orfhlaith Begley has done just that in her
first election and created history by becoming the first female MP for
West Tyrone.

“That is a stunning victory for Orfhlaith and for Sinn Fein.”

West Tyrone has been a safe Sinn Fein stronghold since 2001, when Pat
Doherty first took the seat for the party. Ms Begley’s father, Sean,
served 26 years as a Sinn Fein councillor on Omagh District Council and
she was heavily involved in the party’s campaign efforts in the area.

Ms McDonald argued the result was a mandate to end the DUP’s blockage
on a return to the power-sharing institutions.

“This election was the first time the people have been to the polls
since the DUP walked away from the draft agreement and collapsed the
talks process,” she said.

“Tonight the people have given their verdict on that and it is a huge
endorsement for genuine power-sharing based on rights, equality and
respect for all.

“The DUP should now end their blockage on a return to power-sharing and
if they refuse, there is an onus on the two governments to urgently
convene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference to resolve the
equality and rights issues at the heart of the crisis.”

Earlier in the day there was a moment of drama when a man was arrested
on suspicion of possessing a firearm at a polling station in
Greencastle, County Tyrone. There was also a minor controversy after a
Sinn Fein election worker was accused by the SDLP of breaching rules by
operating “an electronic device” — a Kindle — at a polling station in
Dromore.

 

RESULT

 

Orfhlaith Begley (SF) 16,346 (46.7%, -4.0%)
Thomas Buchanan (DUP) 8,390 (23.9%, -3.0%)
Daniel McCrossan (SDLP) 6,254 (17.9%, +4.9%)
Chris Smyth (UUP) 2,909 (8.3%, +3.2)
Stephen Donnelly (Alliance) 1,130 (3.2%, +0.9%)

Spoiled votes 308
Turnout 35,337 (55.1%)