Sinn Fein swept to victory in all three Westminster constituencies counted in Omagh yesterday, with Mr Martin McGuinness, Mr Pat Doherty, and Ms Michele Gildernew winning Mid-Ulster, West Tyrone and Fermanagh-South Tyrone respectively.
Sinn Fein supporters were euphoric as the count ended with the three successful candidates on the podium with arms raised. Crowds of supporters chanted "easy, easy" and waved tricolours. Mr McGuinness said Sinn Fein was now the largest nationalist party in the North, and its "project" was to become the largest party both North and South. He described the result as "unbelievable".
The win by Ms Gildernew in Fermanagh-South Tyrone was the biggest surprise of the day, and followed Mr Doherty's easy victory over Ms Brid Rodgers of the SDLP.
Afer a recount, Ms Gildernew had a margin over the Ulster Unionist candidate, Mr James Cooper, of just 53 votes. Mr Cooper said he did not accept the result because there was "clear and irrefutable evidence of electoral malpractice", and he warned the UUP would be considering the legal implications. The UUP has claimed that some polling stations stayed open later than the 10 p.m. official closing time.
Ms Gildernew's win, against all predictions, represented a huge swing to Sinn Fein. In 1997 the party took just over 11,000 votes - roughly the same as the SDLP - and finished far behind the UUP's Mr Ken Maginnis, who got nearly 25,000 votes.
Yesterday, Ms Gildernew (31) got 17,739, while Mr Tommy Gallagher of the SDLP saw his vote go down to 9,706. The anti-agreement Independent unionist candidate, Mr William Dixon, polled 6,843 votes.
In his speech, Mr Cooper attacked the DUP, saying they had not got the guts to fight the election but had tried to destroy the unionist vote and that was why unionists had lost.
All day, the count centre was dominated by Sinn Fein supporters, many of them in the 1825 age group. As results were read out, it seemed at times that there were no supporters of other parties present. At the end of the night, as hundreds of Sinn Fein supporters were celebrating, a small number of dejected SDLP and UUP party activists filed out by the side of the hall.
In West Tyrone, Ms Rodgers polled much lower than the SDLP had been predicting. Instead of challenging Mr Doherty for the seat, she trailed him by more than 5,000 votes. The Sinn Fein result of 19,814 votes, or 41 per cent, was an increase from 1997 of more than 5,500 votes when the party took 31 per cent of the vote. Anti-agreement Ulster Unionist Mr Willie Thompson came in second behind Mr Doherty, with 14,774 or 30 per cent of the vote.
Mr Doherty stressed that Sinn Fein was working to become one of the biggest parties on the island. He said the result in the Nice Treaty referendum showed Sinn Fein was the only all-Ireland party. Sinn Fein, he said, would become the biggest party in the North and would "then become one of the most substantial parties throughout all of Ireland".
Mr Doherty ended his speech with a quote from Bobby Sands - that everybody, republican or otherwise, had a part to play.
When asked later about dissident republicans, Mr Doherty said they "should desist, disappear".
Ms Rodgers was heckled when she said some of the tactics used in the election had no place in a modern democracy. Afterwards, she said the result was "clearly a set-back" but the party had been "here before". The first-past-the-post system meant that people voted against something, rather than for something. Ms Rodgers said there was "a huge will" to get rid of Mr Thompson, and that over the past few days there had been a tactical switch to ensure that happened.
Mr McGuinness was the first to be declared elected at the count centre in Omagh shortly after 6 p.m. He increased his vote by some 5,000 to 25,502 or 51 per cent of the poll.