South Down MP Margaret Ritchie has been returned to the Westminster seat with a comfortable majority. In a late night nail-biting count held at the Lisburn Leisureplex, SDLP supporters gathered for a victory celebration on her winning a second term in office.
From the total electorate in South Down, there were exactly 43,000 who voted representing 57.16% of the poll, just under the 58.1% for the Northern Ireland poll. Margaret Ritchie topped the South Down poll on 18,077 votes.
[caption id="attachment_56437" align="aligncenter" width="540"]
South Down MP Margaret Ritchie celebrates with her party supporters after holding her Westminster seat.[/caption]
Relieved after weeks canvassing on the hustings around South Down, a jubilant Ms Ritchie expressed her thanks to her many supporters, staff and voters who helped to get her over the hurdle.
[caption id="attachment_56439" align="alignright" width="330"]
Margaret Ritchie MP celebrates with a cake presented by party supporter Macartan Digney.[/caption]
She said speaking from the podium just after 4am: “It is a tremendous honour to be re-elected to represent South Down and its constituents. The SDLP vote has increased in this election in South Down and we need to right now get rid of the notion that many of my votes were lent to us from the Unionist camp. I therefore thank all the voters who gave me their support and I pledge that I will do all I can to work for South Down in the coming term at Westminster.
“I have worked hard across the constituency in the past five years and this success is attributable to the support form the SDLP South Down Constitutional Committee and many others in the SDLP who have worked very hard to achieve this success.
“I thank my staff who have toiled for the past few weeks under a lot of pressure and they too have proven that we in the SDLP can deliver for South Down by our excellent record in constituency work. So I pledge my full commitment to the next five years to South Down.
“We have a major job on our hands to reverse the effects of austerity cuts imposed upon us. One of the key issues facing us is in health and we need to ensure the key services and beds are brought back to the Downe Hospital, and we need stroke services too for Daisy Hill Hospital.  We must create more jobs in South Down and support local businesses to achieve this. Our tourism product is already well developed and we need to bring it to its next level and  market it globally to a huge tourist potential that can help drive our economic recovery.”
Commenting just after her victory speech, Margaret Ritchie added: “The SDLP vote was absolutely solid. We had a clear majority of around 6000 votes. People were definitely voting directly for the SDLP. They wanted clear representation in the House of Commons and to see their MP fight cuts and austerity measures affecting many in South Down and across Northern Ireland.
“They voted for me as they know I have an excellent record at Westminster and the abstentionist Sinn Féin party clearly were not going to engage in the Commons on addressing these key issues.  We need to re-build our social and economic infrastructure and I will do what I can to serve my constituency and Northern Ireland as best I can.”
Check out more on the election from Down News later today.
The Results for South Down Felicity Buchan (Conservative)………. 318 Chris Hazzard (Sinn Féin)………….12,186 Harold McKee (UUP)…………………..3964 Henry Reilly (UKIP)…………………….3044 Margaret Ritchie (SDLP)……………..18077 Martyn Todd (Alliance)…………………1622 Jim Wells (DUP)………………………..3486 ]]>
