Richie Elected As New SDLP Leader

Margaret Ritchie has been elected as the new leader of the North's Social Democratic and Labour Party.

Miss Ritchie, the Assembly's Social Development Minister, replaces Mark Durkan, who remains MP for Foyle.

She defeated South Belfast MP Dr Alasdair McDonnell in vote at the party conference. She is the first female leader of a major Northern party.

"I have an organisational plan and an agenda for change that will make us stronger," she said.

Ms Ritchie's victory was met with a rapturous reception from the conference floor, with delegates giving the 51-year-old a prolonged standing ovation.

"We've got to back Margaret and drive the party forward," Mr McDonnell said. Patsy McGlone becomes the party's new deputy leader.

Ireland's Taoiseach Brian Cowen sent his congratulations to Miss Ritchie.

"In assuming the office of SDLP leader, she follows in on of the most distinguished lines in Irish political history," he said.

"I am sure she will continue that proud tradition into the future."

The SDLP is the second nationalist party in the North and one of the most fervent supporters of the Good Friday Agreement.

It has lost ground in recent years to Sinn Féin.

The SDLP was born in 1970 out of the civil rights movement which came before the Troubles.

Many of its founding members, drawn mainly from the Nationalist Party, the National Democratic Party and Republican Labour, were key figures in the civil rights campaigns which grew around the North as Catholics demanded an end to sectarian government.

The SDLP made history in 1997 when one of its councillors, Alban Maginness, became the first nationalist to be appointed Lord Mayor of Belfast.

The party has historically had close links with Britain's Labour Party.