STRANGFORD, NORTH DOWN AND EAST BELFAST
THE DUP has performed strongly in three overwhelmingly unionist constituencies – Strangford, East Belfast and North Down.
The party, which had clearly put behind its difficulties, was on course to have three candidates elected in each. The party won two seats in the first count in Strangford with Alliance winning another. The SDLP’s chances of winning a seat seems remote.
In North Down, the DUP won one seat on the first count and was on course to win two more. The Ulster Unionist vote dipped with its support apparently migrating to the DUP, Alliance and Independent unionists.
In East Belfast, Mr Robinson's home constituency, the party was confident of three seats. Alliance had opted to run additional candidates in East Belfast and North Down, but the outcome will not be clear until later today. Independent unionists still have their hopes alive in North Down. Alan McFarland, elected last time for the Ulster Unionists, and local councillor Alan Chambers will know their fate later today. DAN KEENAN
WEST TYRONE AND FERMANAGH /SOUTH TYRONE
WITH PROTRACTED delays in the counting of votes, afternoon tallies indicated that Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party were maintaining strong positions in both constituencies.
A variety of factors contributed to delays in the counting, with reports of some ballot boxes getting soaked by the rain and voting papers having to be dried out. A computer difficulty also complicated matters..
In Fermanagh-South Tyrone, Sinn Féin Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew was doing well in the tallies, securing an estimated 9,000-plus votes, which about 3,000 ahead of her executive colleague, Minister of Enterprise Arlene Foster of the DUP.
In the Sinn Féin stronghold of West Tyrone, the party's Barry McElduff was close to 6,000 votes with Sinn Féin colleagues Pat Doherty and Michaela Boyle some 300-400 votes behind him. The DUP was also polling well. DEAGLÁN DE BRÉADÚN
EAST ANTRIM, SOUTH ANTRIM AND NORTH BELFAST
SENIOR SINN Féin member Gerry Kelly topped the poll in North Belfast with 6,670 votes and was been elected along with Nelson McCausland of the DUP.
In South Antrim Paul Girvan of the DUP topped the poll with 4,844 votes and was elected with his party colleague Trevor Clarke and Sinn Féin’s Mitchel McLaughlin. Mr Girvan was co-opted to the seat when MP Willie McCrea stood down. Alliance party leader David Ford was elected on the second count.
A result in East Antrim was delayed for a recheck.
The battle in South Antrim will be for the last seat between outgoing SDLP assembly member Thomas Burns and the DUP’s Pam Lewis. In North Belfast the DUP are expected to hold their two seats as will Sinn Féin and the SDLP’s Alban Maginness. The battle will then be between outgoing UUP assembly member Fred Cobain and Paula Bradley of the DUP.
The DUP and Sinn Féin had Cobain's seat in their sights but Sinn Féin's JJ Magee is unlikely to make up the difference. MARIE O'HALLORAN
NORTH ANTRIM AND MID ULSTER
TWO DUP and one Sinn Féin candidate were declared elected on the first count in the North Antrim constituency after 10.15pm last night.
Paul Frew of the DUP topped the poll with 6,581 first preference votes, while his party colleague Mervyn Storey secured 6,083. Daithi McKay of Sinn Féin got 6,152 first preferences.
Attention then shifted to the fate of Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) candidate Jim Allister, with 4,061 first preferences. The constituency is without a Paisley family candidate for the first time in decades, but even Ian Paisley jnr, who attended the count , appeared to concede Mr Allister would succeed. “Every court needs its jester, every circus needs its clown,” he said. The SDLP’s Declan O’Loan, with 3,682 first preferences, said he would be battling with the UUP for the final position.
Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness was elected in his Mid-Ulster constituency along with DUP's Ian McCrea. MARY MINIHAN
FOYLE AND DERRY EAST
A full recount was called required in Foyle around 8.30pm last night because 197 votes “went missing”. The votes were finally discovered and the recount was abandoned. In this nationalist constituency the sole unionist candidate William Hay of the DUP was expected to top the poll and early indications were that many of his second preference votes were going to the SDLP’s outgoing Assembly member Pat Ramsey.
With the SDLP set to retain its three seats, Mark H Durkan, a nephew of former SDLP leader, also polled strongly. However, Pol Callaghan was facing an uphill struggle to retain his seat following a strong showing by his party colleague Colum Eastwood, who is the current mayor of Derry. In the neighbouring constituency of Derry East, Independent unionist candidate David McClarty was on track to retain his seat. The UUP's failure to keep its seat means that for the first time in the party's history it has no Assembly members in Derry East or Foyle. GEORGE JACKSON
UPPER BANN, NEWRY/ARMAGH
MINISTER FOR Regional Development Conor Murphy (SF) topped the poll in the Newry/Armagh constituency with 9,127 votes. Other returning MLAs are Danny Kennedy of the UUP, who took 8,718 first preferences, and Dominic Bradley for the SDLP with 7,123. Another outgoing candidate, Sinn Féin’s Cathal Boylan, was elected on the second count.
DUP William Irwin was returned on the third count. The battle for the final seat is between Sinn Féin’s Mickey Brady and the SDLP’s Thomas O’Hanlon, whose election would throw up a surprise.
John O'Dowd of Sinn Féin was returned as poll-topper in Upper Bann, securing 6,649 first preference votes. Party colleague Johnny McGibbon was on 5,365 votes after the first count while the SDLP's Dolores Kelly had 5105 votes. Two DUP candidates Sydney Anderson and Stephen Moutray were in line to make the the quota on the 5th count. PAMELA DUNCAN
LAGAN VALLEY AND SOUTH DOWN
The Democratic Unionist Party's Edwin Poots was held aloft by supporters last night after it was revealed that the 7,329 votes he received from the Lagan Valley electorate had secured his seat . He will be joined there by Basil McCrea of the Ulster Unionist Party, who had 5,771 of the vote. It remained for the surplus of both candidates' to be divided to see which of the other politicians would be successful, although the Alliance Party's Trevor Lunn (4,389), and both Jonathan Craig (4,263) and Paul Givan (4,352) of the DUP, looked to be in strong positions. After the first count SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie was the one candidate assured of their assembly seat. Her closest rival Sinn Fein's Catriona Ruane was elected on the second count. She was followed closely followed by the DUP's Jim Wells. John McAllister of the UUP received 4,409 of the overall vote. JOHN HEANEY
SOUTH BELFAST AND WEST BELFAST
IN SOUTH Belfast, Anna Lo of the Alliance party has topped the poll with 6390 votes, almost 20 per cent of the vote – a dramatic improvement on her performance in the 2007 Assembly election. On this new showing, Alliance could have successfully fielded another candidate. Instead Ms Lo’s transfers went to several other parties, including the Ulster Unionists. Nonetheless, it appears that outgoing health minister Michael McGimpsey is in grave danger of losing his seat.
In west Belfast, Sinn Féin’s renowned vote management skills have again apparently paid off, with all five sitting SF candidates – Paul Maskey, Fra McCann, Jennifer McCann, Sue Ramsay and Pat Sheehan – set to retain their seats.
The battle for the sixth seat is likely to be between Alex Attwood of the SDLP and the DUP's Brian Kingston. FIONOLA MEREDITH