THE increase of almost 50 per cent in Sinn Fein's support in Derry was "a vote of confidence from the electorate for the role that we have played within the peace process according to Mr Martin McGuinness.
In addition to the forum seat won by Mr McGuinness, the party took a surprise second for its chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin. Sinn Fein got 11,618 votes compared with 7,778 in the 1993 elections to Derry City Council.
The SDLP got 19,997 votes up almost 2,000 on 1993 and, as expected, the party took three of the five seats. Mr John Hume said it had been "a very good result" for the party. "There was a very solid, powerful turnout for the SDLP" in the constituency.
Although a quarter of the votes went to unionist candidates, all the seats were won by nationalists or republicans. Mr Gregory Campbell of the Democratic Unionist Party blamed the "conglomeration" of pro union parties for the failure to win a seat.
"In areas where unionists are a minority there has to be some sort of tacit agreement between the fain voices of unionism as to who will go forward to represent them," he said.
Mr Richard Dallas, a candidate for the Ulster Unionist Party, was "very disappointed" that the Foyle constituency was unable to return a unionist member. The numbers were definitely there."
According to Mr Dallas, who is deputy mayor of Derry, it "doesn't reflect well on the inclusiveness of the city that only nationalists or republicans were returned". But he envisaged greater co-operation between the unionist parties in future polls.
Speaking after the official confirmation that Sinn Fein had won two seats, Mr McGuinness said. "It now remains to be seen whether or not the British government and particularly the British Prime Minister is going to recognise a very resounding Sinn Fein mandate and bring about immediately the negotiations which all the people in this island desire and crave.
"We need to build a new future for our children. We can only do that if all the parties and all the party leaders in the two governments agree that it is now past the time for all party peace negotiations to deal with the very serious of conflict which exist in this country," Mr McGuinness said.
Throughout the day, Derry's historic Guildhall where the count was held was alive with rumours that the DUP had failed to win a seat. The early indications were that the SDLP would take four, with one for Sinn Fein.
How ever, in the early afternoon there was increasing speculation that Sinn Fein had taken the DUP seat. As speculation grew to near certainty, republican supporters could barely contain their glee.
The result was announced to loud cheers in the Guildhall foyer, under the impassive gaze of a statue of Queen Victoria, and busts of George VI and Edward VII. Mr McGuinness and Mr McLaughlin were congratulated and hugged and then chaired down the Guildhall steps by jubilant supporters.
Mr McLaughlin said the result was a ringing endorsement of Sinn Fein's contribution and peace strategy". Commenting on the overall result, Mr McLaughlin said that if Sinn Fein's vote was ignored "yet again" this would only validate the views of "those people who have decided in their own heads that there is an argument in favour of non-constitutional political action".
The former chairman of the SDLP, Mr Mark Durkan, who con his party's second seat, said there had been "a very well targeted canvassing campaign" among some of his party's voters by Sinn Fein. Nevertheless the SDLP had "come out pretty comfortably" with the three seats it was seeking.
The fact that no unionist candidate was returned was "a particularly regrettable aspect of the result". The unionists had received nearly a quarter of the votes, "so to achieve no seats out of five is not a fair representation of their place in the population". Mr Durkan said the SDLP believed there had been "a level of personation" in the Sinn Fein vote.
Commenting on the result in West Belfast, Mr Hume rejected the idea that Dr Joe Hendron's Westminster seat was now in jeopardy. "Joe Hendron has an outstanding record of representing the people of West Belfast and working particularly hard on the economic front," Mr Hume said.