More cheers in City Hall
By Eoin O'Broin
Fourteen years have passed since Belfast elected its first Sinn
Féin councillor, and it was fitting that the same man, Alex
Maskey, should deliver the victory speech outside Sinn Féin's
Falls Road offices after the party's success at last week's local
elections.
After Maskey's by-election victory in 1983, Sinn Féin was the
smallest political party on the council. Now, after winning 13
seats, Sinn Féin is the city's joint biggest voting block, neck
and neck with the Ulster Unionist Party. Two of the party's gains
were the fourth seat in Upper Falls where Chrissie McAuley
out-polled SDLP hopeful Patricia Lewsley and Sean Hayes, who got
home on the fifth count.
Standing in City Hall as the voting boxes were being opened, you
could have been excused for thinking that the day's proceedings
were of no great importance. The lobby was almost empty, except
for a few over-zealous journalists, and security guards.
Candidates and election workers were thin on the ground, with the
exception of Sinn Féin, who once again occupied the cockpit of
Unionist domination in Belfast. Little did they know that, within
a few hours, Unionist domination would be gone for good, for the
first time in the city's history.
As the results began to come through, shortly after lunch, the
real significance of what was happening began to sink in. But
until the score boards were written up, nobody could be certain
what way things would go. Then the news rolled in. Chrissie
McAuley took the fourth seat in Upper Falls, and Sean Hayes was
in in South Belfast.
While most election workers expected to take eight seats in West
Belfast, Sean Hayes victory was really the feather in the party's
cap. After 15 years of hard work and disappointments, Sinn Féin
finally broke through in the south of the city.
Talking to An Phoblacht a number of Upper Ormeau residents spoke
of the importance of having Sinn Féin representation in their
part of the city. If 13 seats across the city was epoch making,
Sean's victory was itself a piece of history.
Even before the pollsters could add the totals for the city, Sinn
Féin's vaunted election machine was marching down Royal Avenue,
across Castle Street, and up the Falls. The crowd swelled in the
blistering sunshine, as Alex Maskey described the last 14 years
of work. Sinn Féin may have hit its highest electoral success,
but the upward rise was a long way from its peak.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)