Sinn Féin’s Pat Cullen has ended a streak of notoriously tight margins between the party and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
The UUP’s Diana Armstrong was more than 4,000 votes behind Ms Cullen, a stark contrast to the 57 votes that pushed Michelle Gildernew over the line ahead of the UUP in 2019.
In 2010, just four votes stood between Ms Gildernew and unionist unity candidate Rodney Connor.
Ms Cullen stood down as head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to run for the election, taking the spot of Ms Gildernew who chose instead to stand in the European elections.
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Although it is her first election, Ms Cullen has become well-known in her own right. Originally from Co Tyrone, she became the first general secretary of the RCN to lead the union to strike in 2022 for better pay and working conditions.
On announcing her intention to run, Ms Cullen said it was an opportunity to reject “years of cruel Tory cuts which have targeted frontline services, particularly health”.
Her messaging on healthcare services in particular was sure to strike a chord with voters who are facing dilapidating healthcare services, namely the withdrawal of emergency surgery services at the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, a development that caused significant backlash.
After the results were declared, Ms Cullen said she would work “night and day” for those who did and did not vote for her.
Ms Armstrong, the daughter of former UUP MP and leader Harry West, said: “I’m so deeply disappointed this constituency will be once again without a voice with an absentia MP”.
With “no champion at Westminster”, Ms Armstrong argued =the constituency will become one of the most forgotten, adding voters deserve “so much more from their elected leaders”.
Speaking to reporters soon after, Ms Cullen said during her time as head of the RCN, she never sat on a “green bench”.
“I brought them to my table and made sure that they delivered for the nurses, and that’s what I’ll do for the people of Fermanagh and South Tyrone,” she said.
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