Knives out for N.Ireland's Trimble

Trinmble has vowed to fight to remain UUP chief

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Speculation is high that Northern Ireland's First Minister David Trimble will face a leadership challenge following more disappointing election results.

Hardliners in his pro-British Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) have indicated they will attempt to oust him as leader if heavy losses are sustained in local elections.

And early returns indicate that the hardline unionists in the rival Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are likely to add to the successes they achieved in the UK general election held last week.

Voters in Northern Ireland went to the polls last Thursday to elect MPs to the UK parliament in London and local councillors.

Trimble's UUP lost three of their nine Westminster seats -- two to Ian Paisley's DUP and one to the IRA's political allies Sinn Fein.

When counting in the local elections started on Monday, initial results confirmed a continuing surge in support for both the DUP and Sinn Fein.

The DUP were making percentage gains in almost every predominantly Protestant area. The hardliners were hoping to inflict enough damage on the Ulster Unionists to force Trimble to quit.

Trimble has vowed to fight to remain Ulster Unionist leader, but one of his party members told the Press Association: "If we take further reversals on local government it becomes very difficult for Trimble to put a gloss on it."

Trimble's departure would place in doubt the future of Catholic-Protestant power-sharing administration, set up under the Good Friday Agreement.

The DUP's Gregory Campbell said: "There's an overwhelming swing towards our party. We're on a roll."

Campbell on Friday took a parliamentary seat away from the Ulster Unionists, and on Monday was confirmed as the most popular Protestant council candidate in his home city of Londonderry.

Sinn Fein also scored more successes. Cheers rang down the marble corridors of Belfast City Hall as activists celebrated a series of easy wins in the capital's Catholic neighbourhoods over their moderate nationalist rivals, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

Sinn Fein topped the poll in Catholic west Belfast and appeared likely to retain four of the district's five council seats, the SDLP just one.

Sinn Fein's goal was to win more seats than the Ulster Unionists throughout Belfast and be in position to claim the mayor's post for the first time in history.

Party leader Gerry Adams, who on Friday won re-election to British Parliament as west Belfast's representative, said: "Sinn Fein's clearly going to be confirmed in Belfast as the largest party with the most votes."

In the second-largest city, the traditional SDLP stronghold of Londonderry, Sinn Fein was also making inroads.

Partial returns showed the SDLP taking 38 percent of votes, down slightly from the 1997 election, while Sinn Fein stood at 26 percent, up 4 percent.

The counting of council ballots was likely to stretch into Tuesday. At stake were 582 seats on councils, which wield comparatively little power but provide the organisational grassroots of each party.