One of the most divisive campaigns in the 69-year history of the famously-fractious Screen Actors Guild came to an end yesterday when Melissa Gilbert was elected president in a rerun of last autumn's nullified elections.

Gilbert, 37, best known as Laura Ingalls Wilder in 1970s series Little House on the Prairie, beat Valerie Harper, 61, the former star of Rhoda, by 21,351 votes to 12,613.

The results of last November's elections for one of the most powerful positions in Hollywood were nullified following irregularities and problems with polling papers that echoed the Gore-Bush presidential election vote.

'I'm honoured to have been trusted by the Sag membership,' Gilbert said in a prepared statement.