A CENTURY of unionist control ended last night when Belfast City Council elected its first nationalist Lord Mayor. The SDLP councillor, Mr Alban Maginness, secured the post with support from Sinn Fein and Alliance.
The new Lord Mayor said he hoped for a new era of political partnership in the city and an ethos which embraced the diversity of all citizens.
However, the DUP last night said Mr Maginness's election was a backward step for Belfast and would result in a further whittling away of unionist rights.
Initially, it was understood that Sinn Fein would not support Mr Maginness as it has nearly twice as many seats as the SDLP on the council and felt one of its councillors should hold the post.
However, neither the SDLP nor Alliance would support a republican candidate in the absence of an IRA ceasefire and nationalist sources said Sinn Fein had no choice but to vote for Mr Maginness. "If they had let a unionist in again, the electorate would never have forgiven them," said one.
Mr Maginness defeated the DUP candidate, Mr Harry Smyth, by 26 votes to 22. An Ulster Unionist councillor, Mr Jim Rodgers, was elected unopposed as deputy Lord Mayor.
Mr Maginness (47), a barrister and member of the SDLP's negotiating team at the multiparty talks, received the mayoral chain to loud applause from the public gallery. He said it was a truly historic occasion but not one for triumphalism.
"Tonight, the political mould has been broken. Its fracture does not mark a defeat of one political tradition by another, nor is it a victory. Rather, it signifies a bold step towards the creation of a partnership amongst the political traditions in this divided city a partnership in which there is neither victory nor defeat but the triumph of tolerance,"
He asked unionists to suspend their judgment of him until he had completed his term of office and appealed for "a bond of trust between Catholic and Protestant, nationalist and unionist that can lead to reconciliation and true peace".
The new deputy Lord Mayor, Mr Rodgers, said that although he disagreed politically with Mr Maginness, he would give him. "every support possible" and would be aiming to make Belfast a city welcoming to all its citizens.
Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance later voted to end the practice of promoting councillors to the position of aldermen. The three parties said it was another step towards modernisation.
However, the DUP councillor, Mr Sammy Wilson, argued it was "removing another little part of our British tradition".
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, welcomed the election of a nationalist Lord Mayor. "The days of unionist domination are over forever and Sinn Fein is absolutely determined to ensure that they will never return."
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein last night failed to secure the position of Mayor or deputy Mayor of Derry. The party's nominations were defeated when the SDLP backed the outgoing SDLP deputy Mayor, Mr Martin Bradley, for Mayor and former RUC man, Mr Joe Miller, as his deputy.
. Dungannon's newly elected council last night voted to continue with its eight year old power sharing arrangement. Mr Patsy Daly, of the SDLP, was elected chairman and he will change roles with the vice chairman, Mr Derek Irwin (UUP), after six months. The DUP councillor, Mr Maurice Morrow, criticised the agreement as a guise for the exclusion of its members.