Election round-up and results

Sinn Féin’s performance in the Assembly election saw an increase in its vote share to 29%, with more of its candidates elected on the first count than in 2017.

The outcome was the result was credited to a painstaking curation of its voter base.

Shortly before being elected in Newry and Armagh, outgoing finance minister Conor Murphy rubbished the SDLP suggestion that voters had “lent” support to Sinn Féin to help the party take the post of First Minister.

“I heard that script in the 1990s about votes being lent,” he said.

“The reality is that people go out and make a choice at the ballot. Sinn Féin presented a very positive campaign about what we have done in the Executive and the Assembly and what we want to do.”

As one of the first to be elected early on Friday evening, former Stormont Minister Carál Ní Chuilín hailed Sinn Féin’s positive campaign and its work on the ground as the major contributing factors to its success in North Belfast.

Sinn Féin secured its status as largest party in the constituency following te breakthrough election of John Finucane as MP three years ago. It was SDLP deputy leader Nichola Mallon who lost out to the Alliance Party’s Nuala McAllister in one of the night’s election shocks.

“It was very, very positive, we were very consistent from the start, and I believe it stood us in good stead,” Ms Ní Chuilín said. “I think it’s a combination of good vote management, and good discipline to be quite frank.

“We were on the doors before Christmas, right through even before the Assembly was dissolved, we were on doors talking to people. We were getting challenged, we were responding, even to very difficult questions.

“But on the day of the election I was hitting 23,000 steps, knocking doors all over North Belfast. We were all doing it. But we didn’t need to convince people, they were coming in waves to the point that there were queues outside some polling stations.”

In Foyle, first-time election candidates Pádraic Delargy and Ciara Ferguson held onto the party’s two seats despite considerable internal party turmoil there.

Mr Delargy said that he was “delighted” with the result.

“This has been a great day for Sinn Féin in Derry, but across the North as well. It is a great resounding vote of confidence in our party.”

“I think people have put their faith in Sinn Féin, because they recognise we’re in touch with ordinary people.”

It was a similar story in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, where Sinn Féin held off strong challenges to its three incumbents from the SDLP, Aontú and independent nationalist Emma de Souza.

In Mid-Ulster, home constituency of Michelle O’Neill, the results also showed no change to Sinn Féin’s three seats. In her declaration speech after topping the poll, Ms O’Neill said it was “a very significant moment”.

“Today ushers in a new era which I believer presents us all with an opportunity to reimagine relationships in this society on the basis of fairness, on the basis of equality and the basis of social justice.

“Irrespective of religious, political or social backgrounds my commitment is to make politics work.

Overall, Sinn Féin gained no seats but lost none either, despite the powerful Alliance surge.

Alliance more than doubled their Assembly seats to 17 with over a 100,000 votes. They credited their gains to voter frustration with the political deadlock over constitutional issues and the Brexit Protocol.

A delighted Alliance leader Naomi Long was on hand to celebrate the breakthrough election in North Antrim of Patricia O’Lynn, the first female Assembly member for North Antrim. It was a significant shift in power in the traditional DUP heartland, with veteran figure Mervyn Storey losing the seat he had held since 2003.

Ms O’Lynn said: “A new day is on the horizon in North Antrim. The age of [unionist] entitlement is over.”

TUV leader Jim Allister, elected at the fifth stage, said of Mr Storey losing his seat: “It is a matter of great sadness to me that his seat has been taken by the crypto-nationalist Alliance Party.”

Allister’s gloomy disposition at the count centre, the personification of angry-man disgruntlement, inspired countless internet memes. Despite his party securing over 7% of the vote across the North, none of his colleagues managed to secure enough second preferences to win election.

There were other setbacks for unionists across the North. For the first time since East Antrim was created as a constituency in 1983, there will be nobody from the Beggs family representing the area at either Stormont or Westminster.

Ulster Unionist Party stalwart Roy Beggs Jr, a former Stormont deputy speaker, was not the only high-profile candidate to fall. Former DUP education minister Peter Weir, who was eliminated in Strangford, had been an MLA since 1998 when the Assembly was first created following the Good Friday Agreement.

His seat was won by Kellie Armstrong in another Alliance Party breakthrough in a unionist stronghold.

The departure of Green Party leader Clare Bailey from south Belfast was a shock setback for the party as it lost both of its seats at Stormont, both victims to the Alliance Party surge.

People before Profit’s Gerry Carroll had a narrow escape in West Belfast, holding off the DUP to retain his party’s only seat thanks to transfers from other socialists and republicans, such as Gerard Herdman of Aontú and fellow socialist Dan Murphy.

UUP leader Mr Beattie also had a near-political-death experience in Upper Bann, where Sinn Féin narrowly failed to win a second seat, as Alliance ultimately won the final seat at the expense of the SDLP’s Dolores Kelly.

Mr Beattie said voters had flocked to Alliance because they had been “turned off by angry, negative unionism”.

Meanwhile, the DUP appeared to be in denial. Despite a sharp drop in its overall share of the vote, and the loss of two seats overall, party leader Jeffrey Donaldson insisted the DUP “has held its ground”.

“We’ve held a remarkable number of seats where people were predicting all kinds of negative things, so we have strong foundations, we continue to build on them.”

FINAL RESULTS

Sinn Féin 29.0% (+1.1%) - 27 seats (-)
Democratic Unionist Party 21.3% (-6.7%) - 25 seats (-3)
Alliance Party 13.5% (+4.5%) - 17 seats (+9)
Ulster Unionist Party 11.2% (-1.7%) - 9 seats (-1)
SDLP 9.1% (-2.9%) - 8 seats (-4)
TUV 7.6% (+5.1%) - 1 seat (-)
Green Party 1.9% (-0.4%) - 0 seats (-2)
Aontú 1.5% (+1.5%)- 0 seats (-)
People Before Profit 1.1% (-0.6%) - 1 seat (-)
Others 3.7% (-) - 2 seats (+1)

` East Belfast

Andy Allen (UUP) 5281 - Elected Count 11
Karl Bennett (PUP) 970 - Eliminated
David Brooks (DUP) 6633 - Elected Count 11
Joanne Bunting (DUP) 7253 - Elected Count 1
Charlotte Carson (SDLP) 484 - Eliminated
Hannah Kenny (PBP) 500 - Eliminated
Lauren Kerr (UUP) 1282 - Eliminated
Naomi Long (Alliance) 8195 - Elected Count 1
Eoin Macneill (Workers Party) 72 - Eliminated
Peter McReynolds (Alliance) 5820 - Elected Count 9
Mairead O’Donnell (SF) 1369 - Eliminated
John Ross (TUV) 3087 - Eliminated
Brian Smyth (Green) 2302 - Eliminated

North Belfast

Phillip Brett (DUP) 6329 - Elected Count 10
Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston (UUP) 2643 - Eliminated
Fiona Ferguson (PBP) 1059 - Eliminated
Billy Hutchinson (PUP) 762 - Eliminated
Gerry Kelly (SF) 8395 - Elected Count 1
Lily Kerr (Workers Party) 168 - Eliminated
Brian Kingston (DUP) 4844 - Elected Count 11
Seán Mac Niocaill (Aontú) 640 - Eliminated
Nichola Mallon (SDLP) 3604 - Eliminated
Nuala McAllister (Alliance) 4381 - Elected Count 11
Ron McDowell (TUV) 3335 - Eliminated
Carál Ní Chuilín (SF) 7392 - Elected Count 1
Mal O’Hara (Green) 1446 - Eliminated
Stafford Ward (Ind.) 489 - Eliminated

South Belfast

Clare Bailey (Green) 4058 - Eliminated
Paula Bradshaw (Alliance) 6503 - Elected Count 7
Andrew Girvin (TUV) 1935 - Eliminated
Deirdre Hargey (SF) 9511 - Elected Count 1
Paddy Lynn (Workers Party) 139 - Eliminated
Luke McCann (Aontú) 806 - Eliminated
Stephen McCarthy (UUP) 3061 - Eliminated
Neil Moore (Socialist) 353 - Eliminated
Kate Nicholl (Alliance) 5201 - Elected Count 8
Elly Odhiambo (Ind.) 107 - Eliminated
Matthew O’Toole (SDLP) 5394 - Elected Count 6
Edwin Poots (DUP) 7211 - Elected Count 5
Sipho Sibanda (PBP) 629 - Eliminated
Elsie Trainor (SDLP) 2030 - Eliminated

West Belfast

Danny Baker (SF) 9011 - Elected Count 1
Gerard Burns (Ind.) 192 - Eliminated
Gerry Carroll (PBP) 3279 - Elected Count 11
Patrick Crossan (Workers Party) 193 - Eliminated
Paul Doherty (SDLP) 2528 - Eliminated
Jordan Doran (TUV) 802 - Eliminated
Órlaithí Flynn (SF) 6743 - Elected Count 10
Linsey Gibson (UUP) 474 - Eliminated
Gerard Herdman (Aontú) 1753 - Eliminated
Donnamarie Higgins (Alliance) 907 - Eliminated
Declan Hill (Ind.) 26 - Eliminated
Stevie Maginn (Green) 307 - Eliminated
Tony Mallon (Ind.) 129 - Eliminated
Frank McCoubrey (DUP) 4166 - Eliminated
Dan Murphy (IRSP) 1103 - Eliminated
Aisling Reilly (SF) 5681 - Elected Count 11
Pat Sheehan (SF) 6373 - Elected Count 11

East Antrim

Mark Bailey (Green) 754 - Eliminated
Roy Beggs (UUP) 3549 - Eliminated
Norman Boyd (TUV) 3661 - Eliminated
Stewart Dickson (Alliance) 5059 - Elected Count 5
Danny Donnelly (Alliance) 4224 - Elected Count 5
David Hilditch (DUP) 5662 - Elected Count 5
Gordon Lyons (DUP) 6256 - Elected Count 4
Siobhán McAlister (SDLP) 1200 - Eliminated
Oliver McMullan (SF) 3675 - Eliminated
John Stewart (UUP) 6195 - Elected Count 3

East Derry

Caoimhe Archibald (SF) 6868 - Elected Count 10
Jordan Armstrong (TUV) 2959 - Eliminated
Maurice Bradley (DUP) 6786 - Elected Count 6
Gemma Brolly (Aontú) 1095 - Eliminated
Mark Coulson (Green) 347 - Eliminated
Cara Hunter (SDLP) 3664 - Elected Count 11
Chris McCaw (Alliance) 3338 - Eliminated
Kathleen McGurk (SF) 4500 - Eliminated
Amy Merron (PBP) 347 - Eliminated
Niall Murphy (Ind.) 181 - Eliminated
Stephanie Quigley (Ind.) 1503 - Eliminated
Alan Robinson (DUP) 5151 - Elected Count 8
Billy Stewart (Ind.) 82 - Eliminated
Claire Sugden (Ind.) 3981 - Elected Count 10
Russell Watton (PUP) 933 - Eliminated
Darryl Wilson (UUP) 2625 - Eliminated

Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Derek Backhouse (Ind.) 128 - Eliminated
Rosemary Barton (UUP) 2912 - Eliminated
Matthew Beaumont (Alliance) 2583 - Eliminated
Paul Bell (DUP) 4255 - Eliminated
Emma DeSouza (Ind.) 249 - Eliminated
Jemma Dolan (SF) 9067 - Elected Count 1
Alex Elliott (TUV) 3091 - Eliminated
Tom Elliott (UUP) 5442 - Eliminated
Deborah Erskine (DUP) 5272 - Eliminated
Adam Gannon (SDLP) 3836 - Eliminated
Colm Gildernew (SF) 7562 - Elected Count 8
Emmett Kilpatrick (PBP) 103 - Eliminated
Denise Mullen (Aontú) 927 - Eliminated
Áine Murphy (SF) 7379 - Elected Count 8
Kellie Turtle (Green) 335 - Eliminated
Dónal Ó Cofaigh (CCLA) 602 - Eliminated

Foyle

Pádraig Delargy (SF) 9471 - Elected Count 1
Emmet Doyle (Aontú) 2000 - Eliminated
Mark H Durkan (SDLP) 7999 - Elected Count 1
Ciara Ferguson (SF) 5913 - Elected Count 9
Rachael Ferguson (Alliance) 2220 - Eliminated
Gillian Hamilton (Green) 215 - Eliminated
Shaun Harkin (PBP) 2621 - Eliminated
Anne McCloskey (Ind.) 854 - Eliminated
Ryan McCready (UUP) 3744 - Eliminated
Colly McLaughlin (IRSP) 766 - Eliminated
Sinéad McLaughlin (SDLP) 3189 - Elected Count 12
Gary Middleton (DUP) 4101 - Elected Count 13
Elizabeth Neely (TUV) 499 - Eliminated
Brian Tierney (SDLP) 3272 - Eliminated

Lagan Valley

Robbie Butler (UUP) 8242 - Elected Count 2
Pat Catney (SDLP) 3235 - Eliminated
Amanda Doherty (PBP) 271 - Eliminated
Jeffrey Donaldson (DUP) 12626 - Elected Count 1
Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance) 8211 - Elected Count 4
Paul Givan (DUP) 5062 - Elected Count 4
David Honeyford (Alliance) 4183 - Elected Count 7
Gary Hynds (Ind.) 735 - Eliminated
Simon Lee (Green) 648 - Eliminated
Gary McCleave (SF) 2725 - Eliminated
Lorna Smyth (TUV) 3488 - Eliminated
Laura Turner (UUP) 1607 - Eliminated

Mid Ulster

Keith Buchanan (DUP) 8521 - Elected Count 6
Linda Dillon (SF) 8199 - Elected Count 2
Meta Graham (UUP) 2191 - Eliminated
Claire Hackett (Alliance) 2138 - Eliminated
Alixandra Halliday (Aontú) 1305 - Eliminated
Patrick Haughey (Ind.) 877 - Eliminated
Sophia McFeely (PBP) 179 - Eliminated
Patsy McGlone (SDLP) 5144 - Elected Count 9
Glenn Moore (TUV) 3818 - Eliminated
Michelle O’Neill (SF) 10845 - Elected Count 1
Conor Rafferty (Resume NI) 13 - Eliminated
Hugh Scullion (Workers Party) 107 - Eliminated
Emma Sheerin (SF) 8215 - Elected Count 2
Stefan Taylor (Green) 137 - Eliminated

Newry and Armagh

Cathal Boylan (SF) 9843 - Elected Count 1
Jackie Coade (Alliance) 3345 - Eliminated
Daniel Connolly (Aontú) 1189 - Eliminated
Nicola Grant (Workers Party) 160 - Eliminated
Ciara Henry (Green) 314 - Eliminated
William Irwin (DUP) 7577 - Elected Count 5
Liz Kimmins (SF) 7964 - Elected Count 5
Gavin Malone (Ind.) 3157 - Eliminated
Justin McNulty (SDLP) 6217 - Elected Count 5
Conor Murphy (SF) 9847 - Elected Count 1
Keith Ratcliffe (TUV) 5407 - Eliminated
David Taylor (UUP) 3864 - Eliminated

North Antrim

Jim Allister (TUV) 8282 - Elected Count 5
Matthew Armstrong (TUV) 2481 - Eliminated
Bethany Ferris (UUP) 856 - Eliminated
Paul Frew (DUP) 6242 - Elected Count 6
Philip McGuigan (SF) 9384 - Elected Count 1
Patricia O’Lynn (Alliance) 4810 - Elected Count 6
Eugene Reid (SDLP) 1919 - Eliminated
Laird Shingleton (Ind.) 66 - Eliminated
Mervyn Storey (DUP) 6747 - Eliminated
Robin Swann (UUP) 9530 - Elected Count 1
Paul Veronica (Green) 343 - Eliminated

North Down

Chris Carter (Ind.) 72
Alan Chambers (UUP) 3825 - Elected Count 9
Stephen Dunne (DUP) 6266 - Elected Count 7
Alex Easton (Ind.) 9568 - Elected Count 1
Connie Egan (Alliance) 5224 - Elected Count 9
Jennifer Gilmour (DUP) 2068 - Eliminated
John Gordon (TUV) 1574 - Eliminated
Naomi McBurney (UUP) 1342 - Eliminated
Therese McCartney (SF) 687 - Eliminated
Ray McKimm (Ind.) 604 - Eliminated
Andrew Muir (Alliance) 6838 - Elected Count 3
Matthew Robinson (Conservative) 254 - Eliminated
Déirdre Vaughan (SDLP) 727 - Eliminated
Rachel Woods (Green) 2734 - Eliminated

South Antrim

Steve Aiken (UUP) 5354 - Elected Count 4
Róisín Bennett (Aontú) 657 - Eliminated
John Blair (Alliance) 7315 - Elected Count 2
Pam Cameron (DUP) 6899 - Elected Count 6
Trevor Clarke (DUP) 4943 - Elected Count 7
Declan Kearney (SF) 9185 - Elected Count 1
Mel Lucas (TUV) 4371 - Eliminated
Roisin Lynch (SDLP) 3139 - Eliminated
Jerry Maguire (PBP) 251 - Eliminated
Paul Michael (UUP) 2821 - Eliminated
Andrew Moran (Ind.) 262 - Eliminated
Lesley Veronica (Green) 539 - Eliminated

South Down

Patrick Brown (Alliance) 6942 - Elected Count 5
Patrick Clarke (Ind.) 134 - Eliminated
Sinéad Ennis (SF) 14381 - Elected Count 1
Diane Forsythe (DUP) 6497 - Elected Count 6
Noleen Lynch (Green) 412 - Eliminated
Jill Macauley (UUP) 2880 - Eliminated
Cathy Mason (SF) 9963 - Elected Count 1
Paul McCrory (PBP) 205 - Eliminated
Rosemary McGlone (Aontú) 1177 - Eliminated
Colin McGrath (SDLP) 6082 - Elected Count 6
Harold McKee (TUV) 3273 - Eliminated
Karen McKevitt (SDLP) 3006 - Eliminated

Strangford

Kellie Armstrong (Alliance) 7015 - Elected Count 1
Stephen Cooper (TUV) 5186 - Eliminated
Harry Harvey (DUP) 4704 - Elected Count 6
Conor Houston (SDLP) 2440 - Eliminated
Ben King (Ind.) 118 - Eliminated
Róise McGivern (SF) 831 - Eliminated
Nick Mathison (Alliance) 2822 - Elected Count 9
Maurice McCartney (Green) 1607 - Eliminated
Michelle McIlveen (DUP) 6601 - Elected Count 5
Mike Nesbitt (UUP) 3693 - Elected Count 9
Philip Smith (UUP) 2535 - Eliminated
Peter Weir (DUP) 3313 - Eliminated

Upper Bann

Glenn Barr (UUP) 3367 - Eliminated
Doug Beattie (UUP) 5199 - Elected Count 7
Glenn Beattie (Heritage) 128 - Eliminated
Jonathan Buckley (DUP) 8869 - Elected Count 5
Diane Dodds (DUP) 6548 - Elected Count 6
Darrin Foster (TUV) 4373 - Eliminated
Aidan Gribbin (Aontú) 571 - Eliminated
Dolores Kelly (SDLP) 3645 - Eliminated
Lauren Kendall (Green) 459 - Eliminated
Liam Mackle (SF) 7260 - Eliminated
John O’Dowd (SF) 9242 - Elected Count 4
Eóin Tennyson (Alliance) 6440 - Elected Count 8

West Tyrone

Nicola Brogan (SF) 8626 - Elected Count 1
Barry Brown (Ind.) 119 - Eliminated
Thomas Buchanan (DUP) 6640 - Elected Count 6
Trevor Clarke (TUV) 4166 - Eliminated
Stephen Donnelly (Alliance) 2967 - Eliminated
Amy Ferguson (Socialist) 171 - Eliminated
Carol Gallagher (Ind.) 354 - Eliminated
Paul Gallagher (PBP) 1682 - Eliminated
Susan Glass (Green) 252 - Eliminated
James Hope (Aontú) 657 - Eliminated
Ian Marshall (UUP) 1876 - Eliminated
Declan McAleer (SF) 6343 - Elected Count 7
Daniel McCrossan (SDLP) 5483 - Elected Count 6
Maolíosa McHugh(SF) 6658 - Elected Count 7

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