North Antrim: DUP citadel crumbles as TUV leader Jim Allister shocks Ian Paisley
The ousting of Ian Paisley by Jim Allister seemed unthinkable to some, even as the votes were being counted.
Things began on an optimistic note from the DUP in the early hours of Friday, as Sammy Wilson – a fellow veteran of the party and seen as one of Mr Paisley’s allies – arrived in buoyant mood at the Magherafelt leisure centre where the ballots were being tallied.
Asked by the News Letter how big a bite Mr Allister would take out of Mr Paisley’s vote, Mr Wilson was emphatic – whilst the TUV could deal some damage, it was no real threat to the DUP’s domination of North Antrim.
“Having stood against Ian Paisley on a number of occasions and lost, Jim Allister knows that all he can do is dent the majority – he’s not going to win the seat,” Mr Wilson told the News Letter sometime around midnight.
"But of course you always want to maximise your vote.
"At the end of the day, it’s whether you win by 1,000 or whether you win by 10,000 – the seat is still held by your party.
“I suppose once the election is over, people forget what the majority was and just [remember] who the winner was.”
But as the evening wore on, rumours began to float around that Mr Paisley was indeed in trouble.
The vote-counting went on well past daybreak, but eventually a conclusion was reached: by several hundred votes, Mr Allister had indeed triumphed.
When it came time to take to the podium, his defeated rival stood on the same stage, arms folded, composed.
In a loud, firebrand speech – which seemed to echo the style of the Rev Ian Paisley from decades past – Mr Allister called the events a “political earthquake” adding that “after 54 years of DUP and [the] Ian Paisley dynasty, North Antrim has taken an alternative course”.
Mr Allister paid tribute to Mr Paisley’s work on "constituency efforts down the years... but above all this is a new starting point in North Antrim".
He also told the hall that the result shows “the unionist people of North Antrim will not be taken for granted, and certainly will not be taken for fools!”
He decried “the partitioning of our nation by a foreign EU border”, calling it “beyond shameful” and promising that his voice “will not wilt or falter in opposing the iniquitous Protocol”.
In his departing speech, Mr Paisley said: “The tides of life ebb and flow, as we all know. And this certainly is not the script I would've written for tonight, as I think most of you would accept.
"But I think life is made up of many chapters and I embrace the next chapter as happily as I've embraced the previous chapters.
“I congratulate my successor I commend all of those who took part in this race – the race to the finish. And I wish them well.”
The TUV did not stand in the Westminster election of 2019, which Mr Paisley won with 47.4% of the vote, so no comparison between the two parties is possible for that election.
But in the last Assembly one, in 2022, the TUV took 21.3% of 1st preference votes against 25.7% for the DUP. Here are the results this time:
NORTH ANTRIM
Jim Allister (TUV) 11,642
Helen Maher (SDLP) 1,661
Philip McGuigan (SF) 7,714
Raicheal Mhic Niocaill (Aontu) 451
Jackson Minford (UUP) 3,901
Tristan Morrow (Ind.) 136
Sian Mulholland (Alliance) 4,488
Ian Paisley (DUP) 11,192