Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley is to be awarded the freedom of his home town of Ballymena, Co Antrim.
Party colleagues succeeded last night in reversing a decision last month by Ballymena Borough Council to refuse the veteran North Antrim MP the honour.
However, six Ulster Unionist Party councillors stayed away from last night's special sitting, enabling the DUP to secure the necessary support.
Mr Paisley, who is 78 today, has been a preacher since the age of 16. He founded the Free Presbyterian Church in 1951.
In 1970, he was elected as a Stormont MP and set up the DUP a year later. He has been a Westminster MP, is a Stormont Assembly member and has been a member of the European Parliament since the first election in 1979.
Earlier this year, he announced he would stand down from Europe to concentrate on the negotiations on devolution at Stormont. Last November, the DUP became the biggest unionist party and the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly election.
PA