Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams Re-Elected

Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams Re-Elected

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 6,10:42 AM ET

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams won easy re-election Friday as a member of British Parliament, as hard-liners on both sides of the Northern Ireland divide appeared poised for strong gains.

Adams' victory in Catholic west Belfast, his power base since 1997, was the first of 18 results to be declared in Northern Ireland, where the leaders of the British province's two major moderate parties faced struggles to win their own seats.

"It's a very, very proud and humbling day for me," said Adams, a reputed IRA commander whose party refuses to take its seats in the House of Commons in London because it requires an oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II.

Adams received 70 percent of the votes cast in west Belfast. The results for the 17 other constituencies will be released later Friday.

Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army-linked party, expects to build its status as the No. 1 party among Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland. It previously held four seats but expects to win at least five.

The hard-line Democratic Unionist Party, which represents most of the province's British Protestant majority, expects to fare even better, potentially wiping out the moderate Ulster Unionists led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate David Trimble.

The Ulster Unionists have hemorrhaged support among Protestants because of Trimble's support for Northern Ireland's 1998 Good Friday peace accord. He was one of five sitting Ulster Unionist lawmakers in danger of losing their seats to Democratic Unionists.

Mark Durkan, leader of the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party, also faced a tense wait. His party used to represent most Catholics but since 2001 has fallen increasingly behind Sinn Fein.

Defeats for Trimble or Durkan would probably force them out as leaders of their parties and further strengthen the hard-liners, who have failed to revive a power-sharing administration for Northern Ireland, the central goal of the 1998 accord.

A previous coalition led by Trimble and Durkan fell apart in 2002 following protracted arguments over IRA activities.