Mr Doherty took the seat with a majority of 5,040.
The West Tyrone result was
Speaking afterwards, Mr Doherty said it was a "victory for the Sinn Fein peace strategy".
"I want to say to the Unionists voters that generally we are in a new era."
West Tyrone was a new constituency in 1997 following an electoral boundary review.
It was won then by Ulster Unionist William Thompson.
Sinn Fein regained the nationalist lead, polling nearly 4,000 more votes than the SDLP in the Assembly election in 1998 and winning a series of by-elections.