Northern Ireland

West Tyrone: No surprises as Sinn Féin hold on to seat

Órfhlaith Begley speaks to the media after winning the West Tyrone constituency at the Leisure Centre, in Omagh, Co Tyrone. Picture by Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Órfhlaith Begley speaks to the media after winning the West Tyrone constituency at the Leisure Centre, in Omagh, Co Tyrone. Picture by Brian Lawless/PA Wire Órfhlaith Begley speaks to the media after winning the West Tyrone constituency at the Leisure Centre, in Omagh, Co Tyrone. Picture by Brian Lawless/PA Wire

In an unsurprising victory, Órfhlaith Begley raced across the line to claim the West Tyrone seat.

In an election that saw 41,375 votes polled, Ms Begley won the seat with 16,544 votes.

It was expected that the Carrickmore woman would hold to the seat, which has been in Sinn Féin's hands since 2001 after Pat Doherty was elected.

The 27-year-old is the first woman to hold the West Tyrone seat.

She was selected by Sinn Féin to contest the by-election in 2018 after Barry McElduff stepped down from the seat following a controversy over a video he posted to Twitter.

The turnout for West Tyrone was 62.44%, slightly more than the by-election which saw 55.1% of the electorate cast its vote.

Speaking after her win, Ms Begley said: "This was a crucial election, the election of a generation and clearly people wanted their views heard in terms of Brexit.

"This is a border constituency that rejected Brexit in the referendum and people came out again in this election to once again reject Brexit.

"People have been very energised in terms of of this campaign and people came out in their thousands to reject Brexit but also to reject Tory austerity.

"They sent a very clear message that they see their future in a new Ireland for all.

"Sinn Féin has made its voice count where it matters, in terms of Brussels, we have been there, in Dublin and we also travel to London on a regular basis.

"We gave a pledge in 2017 that we would ensure special status for the North, we would protect the Good Friday Agreement and the all Ireland economy and we have delivered on all three of those."