Mr. Gingrich said 95 non-incumbent candidates were backing the proposal, a substantial part of an unusually large number of Republicans seeking House seats this year.

But last week the Conservative candidate in Belfast's Victoria Ward Jim McCormick - who polled 684 first preference votes - backed our story to the hilt.

A second Democratic mayoral candidate, Peter F. Vallone, quickly backed Mr. Hevesi's call.

And Mr. Goldin said that he had first proposed many of the ideas that other candidates are backing.

Although he fell short of the required 50%, the second-place candidate, John Alan Kyeremanten, conceded defeat and backed Akufo-Addo.

A fourth candidate, Nick Ternette, withdrew from the contest on November 2, 1979 and backed Muriel Smith.

For the 2003 election EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou declared himself candidate and the democratic rally initially backed him.

He noted that the four major Democratic candidates had all backed 1199's call to raise wages for the union's 30,000 home-care aides, to $12 an hour over five years from $7 an hour.

But the party has said it will look to whether a candidate has backed the higher minimum wage.