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British-born Nigerian, Chi Onwurah has won the first seat of the night at Newcastle Central in UK General Elections.
Onwurah said it was "an incredible honour and privilege" to be re-elected.
"I want to thank everyone who voted for me, for the trust and confidence they have placed in me," she added.
"I also want to thank everyone who voted - whoever they voted for - because voting and democracy are so important."
The Labour vote share rose from 49% to 68% in Newcastle East and the majority increased by 6,676.
A Brief About Chi Onwurah:
Chinyelu's maternal grandfather was a sheet metal worker in the shipyards of the Tyne during the depression. Her mother grew up in poverty in Garth Heads on the quayside. In the fifties she married her father, a Nigerian student at Newcastle Medical School. In 1965 Chinyelu was born, whilst they were living in Long Benton where her father had a dental practise. She was still a baby when her father took them to live in Awka, Nigeria.
But two years later the Biafran Civil War broke out bringing famine with it and, as described vividly in an Evening Chronicle article in 1968, she, her mother, brother and sister returned as refugees to Newcastle, whilst her father stayed on in the Biafran army.
This early experience of the impact of war on ordinary families left Chinyelu with a strong sense of her own good fortune in living in a peaceful parliamentary democracy where it is possible to bring about change without taking up the gun or the sword.
According to her, 'I am not a pacifist, I believe that our country is worth defending and fighting for. But we do live in a democracy and, increasingly, there are international institutions at the European and global level to enable us to pursue and defend our legitimate interests through debate and discussion.''
Onwurah said it was "an incredible honour and privilege" to be re-elected.
"I want to thank everyone who voted for me, for the trust and confidence they have placed in me," she added.
"I also want to thank everyone who voted - whoever they voted for - because voting and democracy are so important."
The Labour vote share rose from 49% to 68% in Newcastle East and the majority increased by 6,676.
A Brief About Chi Onwurah:
Chinyelu's maternal grandfather was a sheet metal worker in the shipyards of the Tyne during the depression. Her mother grew up in poverty in Garth Heads on the quayside. In the fifties she married her father, a Nigerian student at Newcastle Medical School. In 1965 Chinyelu was born, whilst they were living in Long Benton where her father had a dental practise. She was still a baby when her father took them to live in Awka, Nigeria.
But two years later the Biafran Civil War broke out bringing famine with it and, as described vividly in an Evening Chronicle article in 1968, she, her mother, brother and sister returned as refugees to Newcastle, whilst her father stayed on in the Biafran army.
This early experience of the impact of war on ordinary families left Chinyelu with a strong sense of her own good fortune in living in a peaceful parliamentary democracy where it is possible to bring about change without taking up the gun or the sword.
According to her, 'I am not a pacifist, I believe that our country is worth defending and fighting for. But we do live in a democracy and, increasingly, there are international institutions at the European and global level to enable us to pursue and defend our legitimate interests through debate and discussion.''
