Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP Tom Elliott celebrating his win with UUP leader Mike Nesbitt.
Tom Elliott has succeeded in his bid to unseat Michelle Gildernew bringing an end to a 14-year reign in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
He won the seat by 530 votes.
The UUP man was elected with 23,608 votes while Ms Gildernew received 23,078 votes.
In his victory speech he told the cheering crowds: “This constituency of Fermanagh/South Tyrone, the most westerly constituency in the United Kingdom is not a green constituency.
“It does not belong to Bobby Sands. It belongs to the people of Fermanagh/South Tyrone and that is who I intend to represent.
“This is a great victory, not only for unionism but for Northern Ireland and for the UK. The most westerly constituency is not only red, white and blue, it is represented.”
He was embraced by UUP lead Mike Nesbitt who travelled to the count centre in Omagh in the early hours of this morning (Friday).
Ms Gildernew, who has held the seat since 2001, thanked those who voted for her: “We did ask for a recount as the marginal was very small in a constituency where over 50,000 voted. Unfortunately that was not granted but as I have said we are deeply appreciative of the 23,078 who did cast their vote and the hundreds and hundreds of Sinn Fein activists who came here to try and take on the combined forces.”
Coming in a distant third was the SDLP’s John Coyle who polled 2,732 votes, 836 down from the party vote in 2010.
Green Party representative Tanya Jones polled 788 votes while Alliance Party candidate Hannah Su, who was not present at the count, propped up the standings with 658 votes.
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