DAYS after winning the Westminster seat for Fermanagh-south Tyrone, Michelle Gildernew was in London for a series of meetings and engagements with Sinn Fein on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ms. Gildernew, who was the MP for the area until 2015, spoke at a public meeting last night (Wednesday) at the London Irish Centre alongside Gerry Adams and party colleagues.

READ: Sinn Fein's Michelle Gildernew wins Fermanagh-south Tyrone seat

Throughout the count at Omagh Leisure Centre in the early hours of Friday morning it was too close to call between Ms. Gildernew and Mr. Elliott who beat her in the contest two years ago.

But after hours of counting it was the turn of Ms. Gildernew to win, picking up 25,230 votes in total, 875 more than Mr. Elliott.

Mr. Elliott, a farmer from Ballinamallard, did not stay to listen to Ms. Gildernew’s victory speech, though afterwards he did express his “deep gratitude” for the help of his campaign team. 

Flanked by Sinn Fein MLAs Sean Lynch and Jemma Dolan, Ms. Gildernew told supporters that she was “proud, honoured and humbled to be part of Team Sinn Fein.”

She said that the electorate had “voted with their heads and hearts and voted for Sinn Fein because of a fear of Brexit and the failure to accept the majority who voted against Brexit in this constituency,” she said.
Despite election fatigue the turnout for the rural constituency was up to 76 per cent.

Mr. Elliott received 24,355 votes while SDLP’s Mary Garrity picked up 2,587 votes, Green Party’s Tanya Jones received 423 votes and Alliance’s Noreen Campbell received 886 votes.

Mrs. Campbell said she welcomed the increase in the Alliance vote since the last election.
“It is pleasing that there was an increase in votes for Alliance in such a polarised contest which saw the votes for the other smaller parties decrease,” she said.

READ: A brutal and damaging election, says Campbell

The former teacher and principal of an integrated school said the overwhelming vote in favour of Sinn Fein and Unionism “reflects the limited and limiting nature of the campaign.”
“The electorate in Great Britain were offered a real choice on important policies and on the type of government and society they want. 
“Voters in Fermanagh-south Tyrone were denied this. 
“The electorate here were not asked to engage with issues; instead, an appeal was made to tribal identity and historic allegiance. 
“The continuous emphasis on ‘green’ or ‘orange’ denies the voter a meaningful say and maintains our polarised society,” she told this newspaper.

Mrs. Jones, who has stood unsuccessfully for election a number of times, believes “the hearts and dreams of thousands of young” who voted, often for the very first time, “have been broken by Northern Ireland’s myopic constitutional obsessions.”
“No one will suffer for it more than our own children here. And no constituency illustrates the impasse more starkly than my own,” she said. 

READ: Green Party to stand a Fermanagh candidate in General Election

Mrs. Garrity admitted to having “scored much higher than I thought I would.”
“However, there is no nationalist voice in Westminster. It’s a scary time and I think Sinn Fein should rethink their position on not taking their seats,” she said. 

The snap election came just three months after a snap Assembly election triggered by the collapse of the power-sharing Executive. 
Indeed, in the past three years, there has also been another general and Assembly election, a European election, a local government election and the EU referendum.