MINISTER FOR Enterprise, Trade and Investment Arlene Foster has won the Fermanagh council byelection, beating the Ulster Unionist and Sinn Féin candidates, who increased support from the last poll in 2005.
Mrs Foster topped the poll with just over 30 per cent of the vote, 90 votes ahead of Sinn Féin candidate Debbie Coyle on the first count. Basil Johnston of the Ulster Unionists polled 22.8 per cent.
Party leader Sir Reg Empey claimed his party was recovering strongly and that its byelection victory earlier this year in Dromore, Co Down, "was no blip".
First Minister Peter Robinson said the result underscored the DUP's reputation as "the only unionist party which can beat Sinn Féin".
The SDLP had a disappointing result, slipping nearly 7 percentage points to 11.5 per cent. Its candidate, Rosemary Flanagan, said the result was "devastating" and claimed the centre ground was squeezed by the head-to-head nature of the campaign between Sinn Féin and the DUP.
Dr Kumar Kamble polled 231 votes for the Alliance Party while Karen McHugh won 158 votes on the independent republican ticket. Just over 50 per cent turned out to vote. Mrs Foster comfortably passed the quota following Mr Johnston's elimination.
Mr Johnston defended his party's much criticised decision to block the co-option of a DUP candidate to the council after the death last summer of Joe Dodds, father of Minister for Finance Nigel Dodds. In a pointed reference to the DUP decision to run a Minister in a local council byelection, he said: "We came up against a very strong candidate in a Minister," and claimed his transfers had enabled her election. But Mrs Foster, a former Ulster Unionist, branded the poll unnecessary and attacked the UUP. She said the party "had to move on and stop the bileful attacks on me personally".
"The unionist electorate have moved on in Fermanagh and it's time the UUP moved on."
Referring to UUP remarks concerning her workload as a mother and a minister, she added: "I never thought I would see the day when my children would be brought into the election and used in a canvass. People should reflect on that and hang their head in shame."
"If I take anything from this election, it's that the unionist community rallied around the fact that we had called for unionist co-operation and I think that's been tremendous," she added.
The result was announced as news of the cancellation of the latest scheduled meeting of the Executive at Stormont was circulating. Mrs Foster denied the election had wider implications, insisting the issues were local. Asked if Mr Robinson would be relieved at her success in the party's first electoral test since he took over the leadership, she said: "I don't know about relieved. He's certainly very happy."
The DUP said the result proved the dominance of its position as the leading unionist party.
Ulster Unionist Assembly member Tom Elliott said: "The question now has to be asked whether the Minister's priorities will lie with the Executive or down here in Enniskillen."
Sinn Féin was happy to record a small rise in its vote, despite a series of high profile defections in the constituency.