Paisley, Campbell praise the Lord for victories

Mr Gregory Campbell of the DUP thanked "almighty God" for his win in the key unionist battleground of East Londonderry last night.

He won the constituency from the UUP's Mr Willie Ross by a margin of almost 2,000 votes. On stage at the Joey Dunlop Centre in Ballymoney, Mr Campbell said there had been those who said East Londonderry could not be won by the DUP.

"But there is a God in Heaven and the British government needs to understand the votes of the people . . . The unionist people have been betrayed. They now have someone to represent them in this constituency. And I will not be silenced by lies, by dirty tricks and deceit, that I faced in this campaign.

"I want to thank almighty God for the tremendous victory. This constituency has given its answer to Tony Blair and to David Trimble, and it's still `No surrender'."

Mr Campbell received 12,813 votes compared to the 10,912 won by Mr Ross. Mr John Dallat of the SDLP won 8,298 votes, Mr Francie Brolly, Sinn Fein, won 6,221 votes and Ms Yvonne Boyle of the Alliance Party received 1,625 votes.

The total poll was 40,268 votes, a turnout of 66.87 per cent.

Mr Ross, who served as the constituency's MP for 27 years, congratulated the victor and said he was sorry his party had lost the seat.

"This is a sad day for me," he said. "I think I and other members of my party will go away and reflect on the results of yesterday." Also delivered at the Ballymoney count centre last night was the result of the North Antrim poll, which the sitting MP, the Rev Ian Paisley, won comfortably with 49.5 per cent of the vote. This was an increase of over 11 per cent on the DUP vote in the 1998 Assembly elections.

Mr Paisley opened his acceptance speech with two verses of the hymn which begins: "Praise God from whom all blessings flow".

Mr Paisley won 24,539 votes compared to the 10,315 won by Mr Lexie Scott of the UUP. Mr Sean Farren of the SDLP won 8,283 votes, Mr John Kelly of Sinn Fein won 4,822 and Ms Jayne Dunlop of the Alliance Party won 1,258 votes. The total poll was 49,545 votes - a turnout of 66.55 per cent.

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