Ulster Unionists have dramatically and unexpectedly won the Banbridge council byelection in Co Down, beating the fancied DUP candidate into second place.
Carol Black took the seat thanks to significant transfers from MEP Jim Allister's new unionist party, Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), which polled strongly in its maiden election, coming third with nearly 20 per cent of first preferences.
"The DUP have said one thing and done another. The people cannot stomach that," she said.
The anti-powersharing TUV was formed last December by Mr Allister after he quit the DUP in bitter protest at the Rev Ian Paisley's decision to join Sinn Féin in government at Stormont.
Democratic Unionist candidate Paul Stewart topped the poll with 1,069 first preferences. At 28 per cent this was a sizeable drop from the near 50 per cent the party scored at the last council elections in 2005.
However, the transfers from TUV candidate Keith Harbinson, splitting almost equally between the Ulster Unionists and the DUP, were enough to see the UUP score a valued win for Sir Reg Empey's party.
TUV leader Jim Allister said the byelection result and his party's strong showing was bad news for Dr Paisley and Martin McGuinness. It was "an unhappy St Valentine's Day for the Chuckle Brothers".
"The significant vote in this election is that 27 per cent of unionists voted for Traditional Unionist Voice. Why? Because they utterly disapprove of the 'chuckle coalition'," he said.
"The unionist electorate can take great pride in the fact that today we've begun the fight back on behalf of ordinary traditional grassroots unionists."
Runner-up Paul Stewart said they would reflect on the votes by the unionist community.
Lagan Valley MP Jeffery Donaldson agreed that the DUP heard the message of protest loud and clear. "It is clear there is a large chunk of the DUP vote in the Dromore area who decided on this occasion to send a message and there is a protest vote there we cannot ignore," he said.
Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey declared the victory a "black" day for the DUP, while deputy leader Danny Kennedy called it "a St Valentine's Day massacre". Mr Kennedy said: "This is a superb result for the Ulster Unionist Party. We were discounted, overlooked and sidelined, but now the people have spoken."
At the British-Irish summit held in Dublin yesterday both the First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister wrote off claims made about the ground gained by the TUV. Mr McGuinness said: "As was the case with the Assembly elections last year, the result clearly shows that there is overwhelming support for parties that are for peace and political progress."