Supporters sing a hymn at Paisley's first-count victory

Opponents of the Belfast Agreement will dominate the unionist benches in the Assembly, and those who devised the rules on cross-community consensus will be "hung on their own petard", the Rev Ian Paisley has said.

Speaking after his election in North Antrim, Dr Paisley claimed the No campaigners had confounded all predictions in Thursday's poll. He said the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, was "finished".

He dismissed suggestions that he had been sidelined during the campaign by his own party strategists. "I was not taking a back seat in this election - The DUP and Ian Paisley are synonymous," he said.

Party supporters sang a hymn in the count centre after Dr Paisley's election on the first count. Immediately afterwards the DUP leader delivered a rousing speech to supporters and the media outside, climaxing with the cry, "roll on the Twelfth of July".

The DUP topped the poll in both the Ballymoney counts. Mr Gregory Campbell was elected on the first count in East Londonderry, and was in fact the first of the 108 Assembly members officially returned.

Immediately after his election, he said the DUP would adopt a a "twin-track" strategy in the Assembly. He promised the party would be "innovative" in its use of the body's powers, but would oppose "anything that brings us down the Dublin road".

Mr Ian Paisley jnr was elected on the second count in North Antrim, winning 3,092 transfers from his father's 3,490 surplus. He looked likely to be joined in the Assembly by the third DUP candidate, Mr Gardiner Kane.

The overall DUP vote in the constituency was down on the British general election. But Dr Paisley attributed this to tactical voting and confusion about the PR system. He admitted there were difficulties "splitting the territories" between the party's three candidates, and claimed the 864 spoiled votes were "mostly old people, many of them my supporters". Spoiled ballots accounted for almost 2 per cent of the total North Antrim poll.

The veteran republican, Mr Joe Cahill, won 2,021 first preferences. He did not make an appearance at the count centre.

The SDLP won two seats in East Londonderry - Mr John Dallat and Mr Arthur Doherty - while Mr Sean Farren was certain to be elected in North Antrim.

Anti-agreement Ulster Unionists fared relatively well in both constituencies. In East Londonderry, the dissident party member, Mr Boyd Douglas, polled 3,811 votes on an independent ticket to win a seat along with two official UUP members. The UUP rebel in North Antrim, Ballymena councillor, Mr William Wright, won more than 3,000 votes.