Could Councillor Finlay replace Ian Paisley at Stormont?

Mr. Paisley, a former Junior Minister in the office of the First and Deputy First Minister, has served as an MLA for more than a decade, but will relinquish his post now that he has succeeded his father as MP for the constituency.

Local DUP Councillor and former Mayor of Ballymoney, Cllr. John Finlay, has emerged as one of the likely successors as has Paul Frew, a Ballymena Borough Councillor.

Cllr. Finlay has gained some experience in constituency affairs working with his DUP colleague, Mervyn Storey, in the Ballymoney and Moyle areas, but remained tight-lipped when asked about the matter last Thursday night.

"I can tell you we haven't spoken about it yet," was Cllr. Finlay's reply amidst the euphoria of his party's success.

However, there's much local speculation of his candidature and Cllr. Finlay would very likely relish the opportunity of working as an MLA. Traditionally, the DUP have divided the North Antrim area into two parts with Mervyn Storey taking responsibilty for matters in this part of North Antrim and and Mr. Paisley based in the Ballymena office, a situation that would appear to favour Cllr. Frew.

Cllr. Finlay, however, lives in Cloughmills which straddles the two areas.

Meanwhile, the success of last Thursday's result is still reverberating in DUP circles locally.

There were fears that TUV leader, Jim Allister, might give Mr. Paisley a bloody nose such was the perceived groundswell of support for his stance on power-sharing with Sinn Fein, but in the end, the challenge petered out with Mr. Paisley taking 19,672 share of the vote and Mr. Allister well down at 7114.

In third place in North Antrim was Sinn Fein's Daithi McKay with 5,265 votes. Ulster Conservative and Unionists - New Force candidate Irwin Armstrong polled 4,634, SDLP's Declan O'Loan, 3,738 and Jayne Dunlop (Alliance) 1,368.

Lyle Cubitt, the retired solicitor, polled just 606 votes and is understood to be quitting politics.

Mr Paisley who has taken over the seat his father held for 40 years, said: "If any arrogance is seen in our approach, it's only because we have the confidence of a great God.

"And can we not at least celebrate that and be happy in that, because I as sure as heck am tonight."

There was the usual boisterous support for Mr. Paisley and his father and while there was less enthusiasm from a dejected band of supporters for Mr. Allister, one devotee spoke of how God had given them some consolation with the demise of DUP leader, Peter Robinson to the Alliance's Naomi Long in East Belfast.

Party activists, Willie Blair, Audrey Patterson and veteran Ballymena Councillor, Roy Gillespie, were very downbeat with Mr. Gillespie admitting that the result was a huge disappointment given the work they had put in.

Mr. Allister, speaking first to the Times after the result, agreed it was a bad night, but said that while he accepted the democratic verdict of the people, he would never sacrifice his principles.

Mr. Allister said his aim was to build a foundation for next year's Assembly elections.

Meanwhile, the unbridled joy of Mr. Paisley's supporters was evident throughout the evening and the 43-year-old MP was carried out of the Seven Towers Leisure Centre to great cheers. It is understood they were heading for a celebration party at their Church Street offices.

Earlier, Mr. Paisley was full of praise for his father and said that "no man in Ulster will ever come up to the mark of Ian Paisley senior."

He pledged to work for everyone in his constituency no matter what background, class or creed and that his victory had come about as the result of hard grat and working for the ordinary men and women of the constituency.

The Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, arriving for the Mid-Ulster count in the same venue, met Mr. Paisley in the corridor with Mr. McGuinness offering his congratulations to the new incumbent by way of handshake and a pat on the back.

There was less media focus on the remaining candidates who acknowledged that it was always going to be a two-horse race, but Sinn Fein's Daithi McKay was well pleased with his result given the loss of more than 1200 votes after boundary changes in the Glens area.

Irwin Armstrong's showing gave him fourth place and reflected the poor night experienced generally by the Ulster Unionist candidates who will embark on a root and branch examination of their strategy given their alarming slump.