Part 1

:00:10. > :00:13.It's results day - the day your votes count for something.

:00:14. > :00:16.Today you'll find out who's line to take the decisions,

:00:17. > :00:18.make the laws and take responsibility at Stormont.

:00:19. > :00:22.Today you will find out who is in line to take the decisions, make the

:00:23. > :00:36.laws and take on the responsibility. If the campaign didn't exactly

:00:37. > :00:39.ignite, today it catches fire for the candidates who'll find out

:00:40. > :00:43.if your votes have put them You'll hear a lot of numbers

:00:44. > :00:48.and statistics in the course But here's the simple figure -

:00:49. > :00:58.276 politicians are competing Results are already

:00:59. > :01:01.starting to come in. David Hilditch of the DUP

:01:02. > :01:14.in East Antrim became the first MLA Followed by a glut of results. The

:01:15. > :01:27.biggest night-time you long of the Alliance.

:01:28. > :01:31.And in mid-Ulster, Linda Dillon, Milne and Patsy McGlone. More on the

:01:32. > :01:35.other results shortly. The ballot boxes were opened here in

:01:36. > :01:38.Belfast and elsewhere this morning. These are pictures we

:01:39. > :01:39.recorded here first thing And this was the first box to be

:01:40. > :01:44.opened, all the votes tumbling For those of you who want to know -

:01:45. > :01:48.there could be roughly anywhere between 700 and 1,000 votes

:01:49. > :01:51.in the average ballot box. The count's well underway here

:01:52. > :01:53.for the city's four constituencies. This of course is a brand new venue

:01:54. > :01:57.- for those of you used to seeing the familiar space

:01:58. > :02:00.of the King's Hall but you'll become very familiar with this new venue

:02:01. > :02:02.as the day and evening We'll, of course, be bringing

:02:03. > :02:06.you the outcomes from all 18 constituencies where the votes

:02:07. > :02:09.are being calculated. Our reporters are at

:02:10. > :02:11.all the count centres - eight of them in total -

:02:12. > :02:14.where the stories and drama will emerge, minute by minute until

:02:15. > :02:18.the final seat is decided. And you can keep in touch with us

:02:19. > :02:21.and all developments on social media We'll be hearing from leading

:02:22. > :02:29.politicians throughout the afternoon and evening -

:02:30. > :02:32.but also here we'll have business people, educationalists

:02:33. > :02:35.and commentators who'll be talking about whether this new venue

:02:36. > :02:38.will help put us in a fresh And of course because election

:02:39. > :02:44.counts draw out victory and defeat, we'll have a cartoonist

:02:45. > :02:59.to illustrate any of the emotion We have results in. Our Political

:03:00. > :03:04.Editor Mark Davenport is ready to drill into the figures.

:03:05. > :03:11.I'm her with Nicholas Whyte. Trying to unpick a lot of the detail that

:03:12. > :03:14.emother-in-lawings in proportional wrens elections. Hower efficient

:03:15. > :03:22.have the parties been in marshalling the vote management? Will some of

:03:23. > :03:27.the independents or smaller parties break through and where will the

:03:28. > :03:33.trends emerge? And the relationships between the DUP, the Ulster Unionist

:03:34. > :03:38.Party and the SDLP and the aligns for the first time in years. What do

:03:39. > :03:46.you make of it so far. Level in many areas. But up in the unionist areas

:03:47. > :03:49.and down in the nationalist areas. More details later and tracking the

:03:50. > :03:54.counts and gauging where they have been going and if there has been

:03:55. > :03:57.tactical voting. Who knows, the figures may allow us to make

:03:58. > :04:14.predictions about the final six seats.

:04:15. > :04:24.So, what is the new Stormont going to look like.

:04:25. > :04:31.Throughout this even and tomorrow, we will see the benches fill up with

:04:32. > :04:36.108 MLAs. Can Martin McGuinness take the job

:04:37. > :04:40.of First Minister? Are the SDLP on the Ulster Unionists on the way

:04:41. > :04:47.back. Or could we see the rise of independence and the smaller

:04:48. > :05:00.parties? Join me as we watch the new assembly take shape seat by seat.

:05:01. > :05:11.Our reporter Will Leech is at Newton Abbey. Where the South Antrim count

:05:12. > :05:17.is going on as well, Will? Gnawed Sorry, we have a bit of a technical

:05:18. > :05:23.problem. A brilliant picture of Will Leech looking well. Lots of things

:05:24. > :05:29.happening in East Antrim but unable to hear what he is saying. Back to

:05:30. > :05:35.him when we establish when we can establish communications properly.

:05:36. > :05:39.The first seat in South Antrim. Now back to Belfast. To the Titanic

:05:40. > :05:44.Exhibition Centre, Tara is there where there are four big counts

:05:45. > :05:48.taking place. There is no mistaking the importance

:05:49. > :05:53.of the 24 seats to be decided. The city has been, is and probably

:05:54. > :05:57.always will be the big battle ground for the parties. The exhibition

:05:58. > :06:01.centre sits where once ships were built and is close to the host of

:06:02. > :06:08.new buildings, housing all manners of now employers. During the

:06:09. > :06:12.history, Belfast has experienced turmoils, troubles, triumphs and

:06:13. > :06:14.defeats. It generates assembly seats and can be a significant

:06:15. > :06:18.psychological boost for any political party. All five big

:06:19. > :06:24.parties have a lot to win and lose, there are likely to be tight races.

:06:25. > :06:29.Lisa McAlister can let us know how the counts are going. Well, all

:06:30. > :06:35.morning the staff here have been verifying the votes, counting them.

:06:36. > :06:37.In the last half an hour a flurry of activity with three constituencies

:06:38. > :06:45.declaring the first preference votes. We start with the East

:06:46. > :06:53.Belfast. We had the DUP's Joanne Bunting topping the poll with 5538

:06:54. > :07:00.votes. Followed by the aligns party's Naomi long. They are both

:07:01. > :07:07.elected. A little bit of girl power in East Belfast. South Belfast, a

:07:08. > :07:14.different story there, the former Lord Mayor of Belfast topped the

:07:15. > :07:22.poll. But nobody yet elected there as making the quota. And Gerry Kelly

:07:23. > :07:26.is elected with 5695 votes. We are just about to get the first

:07:27. > :07:33.preference declaration from West Belfast. But for the moment, I think

:07:34. > :07:45.we can go to Conor McCally in Pam bridge.

:07:46. > :07:50.Yes, two seats being counted. The Upper Ban and the nuclearry and

:07:51. > :07:56.Armagh seats. Sinn Fein is mounting a move for a second seat. It could

:07:57. > :08:01.be Dolores Kelly of the SDLP. I have been talking to her. She is in a

:08:02. > :08:09.scrap for the seat. In Newry and Armagh, much as you were. Three Sinn

:08:10. > :08:14.Fein, one new UUP, one DUP. The question is which of the two SDLP

:08:15. > :08:33.candidates who could come through? It looks like we could see results

:08:34. > :08:40.there. A few results in mid-Ulster for the

:08:41. > :08:44.MLA's return there. Robbie Meredith is at the Seven Towers Leisure

:08:45. > :08:51.Centre. You have had a bit of activity

:08:52. > :08:57.earlier on, Robbie? By lunch time we had four MLAs in. Ian Milton topped

:08:58. > :09:05.the poll, followed by the Agriculture Minister, Michelle

:09:06. > :09:14.O'Neill and Linda Dylan. The SDLP's Patsy McGlone over the quota, so

:09:15. > :09:21.elected and the UULP I have spoken to their candidate. But we could be

:09:22. > :09:26.set for a battle for a seat between the DUP candidates. Pulling almost

:09:27. > :09:31.an equal number of votes. When it comes to North ant trim, the DUP

:09:32. > :09:40.have four candidates there. They will expect to get at least three

:09:41. > :09:46.in. But expecting to see how TUV's Jim McAllister and the Sinn Fein's

:09:47. > :09:52.McKay and robin Swan looking to get back. We are told to expect a

:09:53. > :09:58.declaration certainly within the next hour.

:09:59. > :10:01.If the Ulster Unionists are looking to build on Westminster, then Lagan

:10:02. > :10:07.Valley presents a possible opportunity. Not only is the party

:10:08. > :10:13.looking to regain the seat taken by basil McCrea the last time but

:10:14. > :10:18.looking to add a second seat at the expense of the DUP in a DUP

:10:19. > :10:23.stronghold. Coming to the election with four seats in Lagan Valley.

:10:24. > :10:28.They recognise it is a fight to hold all four. They have made it to

:10:29. > :10:33.three. Paul Gibbon has topped the poll but about 200 votes short from

:10:34. > :10:39.the first round from being elected. He takes over from Edwin Poots as

:10:40. > :10:42.top dog for the DUP in Lagan Valley. Talking of former DUP Health

:10:43. > :10:48.Minister, what about Jim Wells, he is here. They are counting the South

:10:49. > :10:56.Down votes. He nearly did not get into the centre having not turned up

:10:57. > :11:02.without Osmed will ID, he sip says he will return to Stormont.

:11:03. > :11:07.I don't expect change from the two SDLP and two Sinn Fein MLAs elected

:11:08. > :11:16.the last time. But with Mr Wells getting in it leaves a scrap for the

:11:17. > :11:19.final unionist seat. The than, independent unionist, John

:11:20. > :11:24.McAllister who told me before coming on air that he needs a minor miracle

:11:25. > :11:31.to be re-elected, he says that his Stormont career is over.

:11:32. > :11:38.Here at the Foyle Arena, there is a battle for the supremacy between the

:11:39. > :11:45.SDLP and Sinn Fein it stands at 3-2-2. This time, Martin McGuinness

:11:46. > :11:49.is back on home turf. Can he swing fortunes around and take the

:11:50. > :11:55.leadership from the SDLP? We will have to wait and see. The first

:11:56. > :12:01.reference is in. Colin Eastwood five on the nos. Martin McGuinness got 37

:12:02. > :12:07.more votes. But some way to go yet. The impressive performer? It is

:12:08. > :12:11.Eamon McCann. Something in the region of over 4,100 first

:12:12. > :12:17.preference votes. Can can he make up the difference to the cost of the

:12:18. > :12:22.SDLP? We will have to wait and see. Expect Gary Middleton to take a seat

:12:23. > :12:30.and retain it for the DUP. In East Londonderry, a loss of two familiar

:12:31. > :12:34.faces. Gregory Campbell to concentrate on Westminster and John

:12:35. > :12:39.Dallat. He is retiring from active politics. Now both parties expect to

:12:40. > :12:46.retain the seats that they hold. Sinn Fein are trying to go for

:12:47. > :12:50.another at the expense of the SDLP. And Clare Sugden, she is walking

:12:51. > :12:56.about the count centre, an independent, holding on to that

:12:57. > :13:00.seat. There was speculation she may lose it but she is quietly

:13:01. > :13:08.confident. So all to ply for here in East Londonderry and Foyle.

:13:09. > :13:15.Arlene Foster has arrived atoma Leisure Centre, where she is

:13:16. > :13:21.expected to top the poll in south ar Mania. The two Ulster unionist

:13:22. > :13:28.candidates have not done so well. The vote is evenly split between

:13:29. > :13:32.them. On the nationalist side Michelle guild knew was defeated

:13:33. > :13:37.here 12 months ago but after that, it is anybody's guess after the Sinn

:13:38. > :13:42.Fein selection debacle left them with four candidates defending three

:13:43. > :13:48.seats, the SDLP are hoping to take advantage and regain the seat that

:13:49. > :13:52.they lost five years ago. Over in West Tyrone, Daniel McCrossan seems

:13:53. > :13:58.to have performed strongly against the challenge of the former SDLP

:13:59. > :14:01.councillors who left the party and stood as independent Social

:14:02. > :14:08.Democrats democrats. He could retain his seat meaning that things are as

:14:09. > :14:13.they are in West Tyrone. 18 candidates standing in West Tyrone.

:14:14. > :14:21.Booking for Monday in case the count continues into a third day but so

:14:22. > :14:29.far, things progressing smoothly. I'm in Bangor for the constituencies

:14:30. > :14:35.here. Here there are two results in. A cluster of high-profile candidates

:14:36. > :14:40.here. Three DUP ministers and the Ulster unionist leader, Mike

:14:41. > :14:45.Nesbitt. He had a second MLA last time but McNarry defected to Ukip.

:14:46. > :14:53.If looks like he may not hold tonne the second seat. Mike Nesbitt topped

:14:54. > :15:01.the poll up against Michelle McAveen. He is stunned. They are

:15:02. > :15:11.elected and a safe seat for Kelly Armstrong. The fight there now is

:15:12. > :15:18.between Joe Boyle of the SDLP and possibly a second Ulster unionist

:15:19. > :15:25.candidate. Joe Boyle could be the first nationalist for the area.

:15:26. > :15:33.Then three DUP's for it to become a DUP stronghold. And the Alliance,

:15:34. > :15:37.Stephen Fahey looking safe. And Steven Agnew has polled strongly

:15:38. > :15:40.here as well. We know in the past this count has finished in one day,

:15:41. > :15:48.so fingers crossed. We have found the gremlin in Newton

:15:49. > :15:54.happy and had a serious talk with it. It is now cooperating. Will

:15:55. > :16:01.Leitch is there. You are looking fantastic before, but we could not

:16:02. > :16:06.hear you. Just talk us through what is happening. You have the East

:16:07. > :16:10.Antrim and South Antrim count? That is right. What a huge cheer there

:16:11. > :16:18.was for David Hilditch, as he romped home for the DUP. The first MLA

:16:19. > :16:24.elected, clear of the quota. Paul Girvan was the DUP man in South

:16:25. > :16:28.Antrim, almost elected, just six votes shy. We actually hearing the

:16:29. > :16:34.second preference... You can hear the cheering, I suspect that might

:16:35. > :16:40.be Paul Girvan going through now as the second DUP MLA and elected. So,

:16:41. > :16:44.no surprise in an area that gets a very strong unionist vote. David

:16:45. > :16:49.Ford is up for election. He still wants to be an MLA. He was not happy

:16:50. > :16:54.with his first preference vote, but still optimistic. Two things to

:16:55. > :17:03.mention, two who are not standing again, Sammy Wilson of the DUP,

:17:04. > :17:08.Danny Kinahan of the UUP. We will hear more from the reporters at the

:17:09. > :17:16.count centres. We are on air until midnight. Hopefully lots of results

:17:17. > :17:20.until then. This is East Antrim. We'll was talking through that. The

:17:21. > :17:25.result, David Hilditch of the DUP returned. No great surprise. It is a

:17:26. > :17:31.DUP heartland. Add three seats, we will see of the other come home. I

:17:32. > :17:37.presume they are feeling pretty good. Mid Ulster that is the result

:17:38. > :17:42.after the first stage. Three Sinn Fein candidates home comfortable

:17:43. > :17:50.you. Patsy McGlone as well for the SDLP. That is the share in Mid

:17:51. > :17:58.Ulster. No surprise, pretty strong showing from Sinn Fein, 46%. The DUP

:17:59. > :18:02.with 18%. The SDLP, 15, Patsy McGlone, a significant figure in the

:18:03. > :18:08.party, home and dry. The change on Mid Ulster, an 2011, the last

:18:09. > :18:14.Assembly election, Sinn Fein got the three home, but down a little bit.

:18:15. > :18:19.The DUP up, the SDLP up slightly, Ulster Unionists up. We will see how

:18:20. > :18:28.the rest of the seats shape up. This is East Belfast. Two MLAs home.

:18:29. > :18:32.Joanne Bunting and Naomi Long. No surprise that Naomi Long is home in

:18:33. > :18:42.east Belfast. The deputy leader of the matter alliance Party. -- deputy

:18:43. > :18:45.leader of the Alliance party. In East Belfast, they are chasing three

:18:46. > :18:55.seats, hopeful they can get three seats. We have a couple more, DUP

:18:56. > :18:59.down a little bit. That is not necessarily mean it is a disaster as

:19:00. > :19:03.far seats are concerned. This is the state the parties, I am going to

:19:04. > :19:16.introduce the panellists to talk about some of the figures.

:19:17. > :19:28.That says People Before Profit has one won. I don't know if it is

:19:29. > :19:33.confirmed. It is on the graphic, it is literally confirmed as we speak.

:19:34. > :19:39.My three guests, we are going to have a word about this. Everybody

:19:40. > :19:44.said there was a quota for Jerry Kyle, there was? Yes, the

:19:45. > :19:50.interesting thing will be at whose expense it comes. It is maybe a sign

:19:51. > :19:59.of one of the most hopeful things about this election, that there is a

:20:00. > :20:17.plethora of candidates. Independence of a more unusual hue. He topped the

:20:18. > :20:24.poll, 22.9% share. The next candidate behind him was Alex Maskey

:20:25. > :20:31.of Sinn Fein, with 4700. Frank McCoubrey is in next place. There

:20:32. > :20:37.was a lot of speculation he might struggle. Might be trying to manage

:20:38. > :20:42.expectations, by talking about how well Gerry Carroll was going to do.

:20:43. > :20:46.Here's comfortably over what he got last year in the Westminster

:20:47. > :20:52.election, that is quite a stunning result. Frank McCoubrey Zucker

:20:53. > :20:57.result will probably impact on that as well. I want to go back to

:20:58. > :20:58.Belfast and the count at the Titanic Exhibition Centre. That news will

:20:59. > :21:17.come through. I have two of the first Belfast MLAs

:21:18. > :21:21.to be elected. The DUP, a completely new life in terms of the public

:21:22. > :21:25.face, what will you bring to Stormont? I bring some level of

:21:26. > :21:32.experience, having worked at Stormont for 18 years. LCD other

:21:33. > :21:34.side of it as an MLA. There are challenges ahead. I'm looking

:21:35. > :21:40.forward to finding my feet and finding my niche. I look forward to

:21:41. > :21:43.serving people to the rest of my ability. What was the message you

:21:44. > :21:49.are getting on the doorstep? A number of things. People are keen to

:21:50. > :21:56.see improvements. People, our message resonated with the people of

:21:57. > :22:00.Belfast. People are keen to see good health care, good education, people

:22:01. > :22:04.want DUP ministers, because people have seen the DUP ministers deliver.

:22:05. > :22:11.The issue for us was that people want us to take them all, and now we

:22:12. > :22:14.have a choice to make. Congratulations on your election,

:22:15. > :22:19.you are a familiar face at Stormont. For the general voter out there,

:22:20. > :22:25.will it be more of the same? I don't think so. What you have to do to

:22:26. > :22:28.continue being elected in any party is to improve what you did last

:22:29. > :22:33.time. That is what we are trying to do. We have two weeks to put forward

:22:34. > :22:37.a proposal for government and we are confident of doing that. It will

:22:38. > :22:40.involve the five parties and the Executive, I don't think that will

:22:41. > :22:46.change. We have to improve on it. Things like ourselves and the DUP,

:22:47. > :22:50.we have said we are up for putting ?1 billion into health. It needs to

:22:51. > :22:56.be more than money, it needs to be a complete revamp of the way we are

:22:57. > :23:00.dealing with health. The issues are health, education and jobs, as well

:23:01. > :23:05.as local issues. Will come back to those topics in a moment. I want to

:23:06. > :23:12.ask you about Gerry Carroll in west Belfast. Topping the poll, great

:23:13. > :23:18.success, not so good a message for Sinn Fein, whose seat is eager to

:23:19. > :23:21.one of yours? Good question, I don't have the answer. In West Belfast,

:23:22. > :23:25.indeed anywhere, it is almost impossible to take five out of six

:23:26. > :23:30.seats. We did it last time in West Belfast. We knew it would be a

:23:31. > :23:37.fight. We knew that Gerry Carroll was going to poll well and strongly.

:23:38. > :23:41.I think it is up there for the five seats and we are still in with a

:23:42. > :23:46.possibility of taking all five. I think we will certainly take four.

:23:47. > :23:51.We might take the five yet, because it is not only them in their, I

:23:52. > :23:57.don't think the SDLP will be pleased with where they are sitting. What

:23:58. > :24:00.about his appeal? Is it a case that Sinn Fein have taken their eye off

:24:01. > :24:06.the ball in terms of local issues in West Belfast, and he has been able

:24:07. > :24:12.to come in? We work with People Before Profit in the south. We will

:24:13. > :24:16.work with People Before Profit in the North. There are issues which we

:24:17. > :24:24.agree on and issues which we might disagree on, but would we take our

:24:25. > :24:27.eye off the ball? I hope not. Every election has to BA lesson, finding

:24:28. > :24:30.out if we are taking the right view to represent people. If people tell

:24:31. > :24:37.us we're doing something wrong, we will take heed to that. After the

:24:38. > :24:42.first count, we are holding up our vote across the North and we hope to

:24:43. > :24:46.improve on that. We will see what happens at the end of the day. You

:24:47. > :24:51.both mention health and education as being big issues, but they are the

:24:52. > :24:56.department is your parties had, and things are going wrong, people are

:24:57. > :25:00.not satisfied? In everything in life, there can always be

:25:01. > :25:04.improvements. Those are the issues that affect everybody. Everybody

:25:05. > :25:07.wants their child to have a good education, every child has the right

:25:08. > :25:12.to a good education, the same with health care, we all want folks to be

:25:13. > :25:15.looked after properly. But particularly Protestant young boys,

:25:16. > :25:19.they are not getting an education or for some reason not coming out with

:25:20. > :25:23.the results? The DUP has taken enormous strides in trying to

:25:24. > :25:32.address those difficulties. We have set up the APG to deal with

:25:33. > :25:36.educational underachievement, that is something we take very seriously,

:25:37. > :25:40.particularly with Protestant boys. Jobs are an enormous issue, the

:25:41. > :25:44.economy, people need to have jobs, not just low paid jobs, good jobs

:25:45. > :25:48.that bring investment into Northern Ireland. We have been much more

:25:49. > :25:51.successful than we have envisaged in the past mandate and I think we can

:25:52. > :25:55.build on that, we have a strong foundation on which to build. Do you

:25:56. > :25:59.think you will bring your running mates with you into the Assembly? I

:26:00. > :26:03.think both of my running mate will make it on their own merits. They

:26:04. > :26:07.are well-known and well liked candidates, renowned for doing their

:26:08. > :26:11.jobs. My colleagues can stand on their own two feet and make it,

:26:12. > :26:16.absolutely. There has clearly been good about management by the DUP,

:26:17. > :26:22.although you are well known as a former Castlereagh councillor, they

:26:23. > :26:25.have been able to bring in first? We did our best, we knew it was

:26:26. > :26:28.important that we have a reasonable share to stay ahead, I think we have

:26:29. > :26:33.managed our vote well in East Belfast and we are pleased with how

:26:34. > :26:36.it has gone. A final point about turnout, there is talk about voter

:26:37. > :26:40.apathy being a problem. It doesn't look like that has been the case,

:26:41. > :26:44.the turnout is quite healthy? Forgive me, I think the media with a

:26:45. > :26:49.once saying it was going to be below 50. Most of them were saying it

:26:50. > :26:54.would be below 50%. That has been proven to be wrong. -- had immediate

:26:55. > :27:00.worthy ones. If you compare it not just with Westminster but the

:27:01. > :27:07.previous Assembly, the outcome has been higher. People are still

:27:08. > :27:10.interested and driven by it. If you look at rural areas, you can see

:27:11. > :27:16.there is always a high vote out there. The interest is still there,

:27:17. > :27:21.so it should be. It was hard enough to get a democratic way forward, we

:27:22. > :27:26.have found it. It is a question of legitimacy, if it went below the

:27:27. > :27:31.50%, you are really questioning the mandate? There is a big question

:27:32. > :27:34.around if, the fact is that it didn't. We would be having a

:27:35. > :27:40.different conversation. The comments have been proved wrong, and there is

:27:41. > :27:43.still the interest. In terms of other European countries and

:27:44. > :27:49.regions, we are still ahead when it comes down to voter interest. OK,

:27:50. > :27:54.congratulations, thank you for joining us.

:27:55. > :28:00.I think we are going to see pictures of some of the candidates in South

:28:01. > :28:11.Down. It has not been a good day for the former NI21 leader. He was

:28:12. > :28:16.standing as an independent, he knew it was going to be a tough day for

:28:17. > :28:20.him. The figures have not been particularly good for John

:28:21. > :28:27.McCallister. He has been eliminated, second from bottom. 1156 first

:28:28. > :28:30.preference. He will be bitterly disappointed at that. He was the

:28:31. > :28:36.person that steered through the Private members Bill or opposition.

:28:37. > :28:40.It is perfectly possible we might have an opposition for the first

:28:41. > :28:44.time in Stormont, a formal opposition for the first time. The

:28:45. > :28:49.man who helped guide that onto the statute books will not have any

:28:50. > :28:52.part. He has conceded defeat, he has been eliminated and hopefully we

:28:53. > :28:57.will hear from him shortly. Jim Wells came third in South Down, with

:28:58. > :29:03.5033 first preferences. We hope to hear from him shortly. He was topped

:29:04. > :29:13.by Sinead Bradley of the SDLP. I think we can hear from Colum

:29:14. > :29:22.Eastwood. He joins us from the Foyle count. Foyle and East Londonderry

:29:23. > :29:28.are being counted at the same place, the Foyle Arena. I wonder what your

:29:29. > :29:32.impression is of where we are so far? I think you were beaten by just

:29:33. > :29:37.a couple of votes, by Martin McGuinness, to the top spot. He got

:29:38. > :29:41.5037 first preferences, you got exactly 5000. Was that an honourable

:29:42. > :29:50.performance by yourself? I think so, we have beaten Sinn Fein

:29:51. > :29:53.in the election in Foyle. We increased the vote over Sinn Fein

:29:54. > :29:58.from the last time. So we are happy with that. It is clear that this is

:29:59. > :30:01.the year of the independents and the people are angry with Stormont's

:30:02. > :30:04.performance. I think that the independents have done well in the

:30:05. > :30:10.election. Do you think that Eamon McCann is to

:30:11. > :30:14.pick up a seat in Foyle? There are is a lot of counting to be done. But

:30:15. > :30:19.he has done well, as have other independents. That is an example of

:30:20. > :30:23.people's frustration at the lack of delivery from Stormont, especially

:30:24. > :30:27.in this constituency. But there are lots of votes to be counted. As you

:30:28. > :30:31.and others will know it will be a day or two before we know the full

:30:32. > :30:35.results. That will be the case across the north.

:30:36. > :30:39.Let's talk about the SDLP, do you think you can retain the three seats

:30:40. > :30:45.in Foyle? There has been speculation about that. A lot of people are

:30:46. > :30:52.suggesting that Gerry Diver could lose out? Well, we need to wait and

:30:53. > :30:56.see. As I say, there are lots of votes to be counted. I have seen

:30:57. > :31:02.many people wouldn'ted out, and the next day they are back in the race.

:31:03. > :31:06.What is clear is the SDLP have outpolled the Sinn Fein once again

:31:07. > :31:11.in the constituency. We were behind in the local government election,

:31:12. > :31:14.now we are ahead, further than the last Assembly elections. But the

:31:15. > :31:19.independents have done well. That has been the case right across

:31:20. > :31:27.Ireland. We are seeing it here in Derry today.

:31:28. > :31:34.And Anne McClusky did well, just in behind McCann. And the other two are

:31:35. > :31:38.ahead of Gerry Diver. ... I don't think it will stay like that. There

:31:39. > :31:44.are a number of eliminations to be had. Nobody hit the quotas, that has

:31:45. > :31:48.impact as well. It is too early to say what is going to happen. As it

:31:49. > :31:53.is in many other constituencies. We knew this would be a battle for the

:31:54. > :31:57.last seat. We set out to see off the challenge from Martin McGuinness who

:31:58. > :32:00.came to Derry. Who said he would get three seats. I don't think that will

:32:01. > :32:05.happen. You will take pleasure in Martin

:32:06. > :32:10.McGuinness is moved from mid-Ulster into Foyle and Sinn Fein don't grow

:32:11. > :32:16.the seat tally, in other words, staying with two, and one of the

:32:17. > :32:19.previous MLA's lose a seat that would give you considerable

:32:20. > :32:23.satisfaction? It is not about satisfaction or pleasure, it is

:32:24. > :32:28.about saying that Martin came here to tell us he would take three

:32:29. > :32:32.seats, I don't think he will. There was a battle for the last seat. I

:32:33. > :32:37.don't think it is with Sinn Fein but the independents. That is a factor

:32:38. > :32:43.that we have seen across the north and the island as the Executive have

:32:44. > :32:47.not delivered for places like Derry. But the SDLP have done well. They

:32:48. > :32:52.have been under huge pressure with Martin McGuinness coming back. The

:32:53. > :32:56.Deputy First Minister, with a huge professional, he has come back to

:32:57. > :33:00.Derry, we outpolled Sinn Fein. That is a huge success.

:33:01. > :33:05.OK. We will talk with you in due course. Thank you very much, Collum

:33:06. > :33:09.Eastwood in the meantime on your election. Mike Nesbitt, the leader

:33:10. > :33:16.of the Ulster Unionist Party joins us for his count. Congratulations to

:33:17. > :33:24.you. You talked to the poll in Strangford? Yes, 4673. That was a

:33:25. > :33:30.quota. It is a bit of a shock. It is also gratifying. Humbling. I am

:33:31. > :33:35.grateful to the elect rate of Strangford. Not least as the last

:33:36. > :33:40.time I finished fifth and never made the quota. But that said, Mark, I am

:33:41. > :33:45.running with a team-mate, Phillip Smith, the second seat was hard won

:33:46. > :33:53.in 2011. We had a fight to retain it. But as you know in these single

:33:54. > :33:57.transferrable vote counts there is no certainty in terms of where the

:33:58. > :34:02.transfer votes go, it will be well into Saturday before we know how the

:34:03. > :34:09.six seats pan out. So I am saying that I would have been happy to

:34:10. > :34:13.finish fifth and sixth with Phillip, rather than first and potentially

:34:14. > :34:18.7th and 8th. It is a complicated seat. Lots of

:34:19. > :34:25.figures in there having a tilt at the 5th and the 6th vote. But it has

:34:26. > :34:31.to be a big target seat. You need to recover what was an Ulster Unionist

:34:32. > :34:37.seat. So you need the two seats to talk about the Ulster Unionistster

:34:38. > :34:42.Unionist Party resurgence? The growth must be based on the 2011

:34:43. > :34:48.rather than the 2015. The easiest way to grow in the 16 is to retain

:34:49. > :34:53.them. Strangford is a big challenge. It was very, very tight the last

:34:54. > :34:58.time between David McNarry and Joe Boyle. The last time when the Sinn

:34:59. > :35:04.Fein candidate went out, Joe Boyle got a huge lift. But that was where

:35:05. > :35:10.he basically stuck. There were no who transfers coming the SDLP's way.

:35:11. > :35:14.And incrementally as more candidates went out, David McNarry grew his

:35:15. > :35:19.vote and just made it. In fairness to Joe, on at least three occasions

:35:20. > :35:26.standing for the Assembly elections, he has come close. He will hit the

:35:27. > :35:29.crossbar 30 or 40 votes short. I'm sure he will be close to do it this

:35:30. > :35:33.time. What are you hearing about the other

:35:34. > :35:38.counts? The other individuals? The other well-knowns in the hunt for a

:35:39. > :35:44.seat? Is it fairly positive? Do you know, Mark, I was on my way to the

:35:45. > :35:48.car to listen to radio Ulster when I was nabbed by your people to come in

:35:49. > :35:54.to do this interview, so you will know better than I do! I don't know

:35:55. > :35:58.if any of us know the picture. You have a precious envelope that you

:35:59. > :36:02.and I discussed on television. You wrote down the number of seats you

:36:03. > :36:07.believed that the party would get at the election. You posted it to

:36:08. > :36:13.yourself, it is sealed. You promised us to join us and open up the

:36:14. > :36:20.envelope at some stage, are you still up for that? I am yes. But I

:36:21. > :36:24.may have been, I was ambitious! OK. Well, the first omission of the day.

:36:25. > :36:30.Is that going to be tonight, Mike, or tomorrow? I think tomorrow.

:36:31. > :36:35.OK. Consider yourself booked! I'm staying here for the rest of the

:36:36. > :36:40.count here today. As soon as the result is declared here tomorrow I

:36:41. > :36:45.will come up to the BBC as long as the rugby is not on.

:36:46. > :36:50.Well, we are here from 10. 30am until 1.00pm. You have a seat

:36:51. > :36:57.booked. We will not miss it for all the tea in Khan! Mike Nesbitt

:36:58. > :37:05.confirming he will open that envelope on BBC tomorrow. Let's here

:37:06. > :37:17.from Lisa McAlister -- all the tea in China! Gerry Carroll is with me,

:37:18. > :37:23.8299 votes. Topping the poll in West Belfast. Was it a surprise? We knew

:37:24. > :37:28.we would take a seat. Doing well. But the 8,000 votes is a great vote.

:37:29. > :37:34.I would like to thank everybody in West Belfast who came out to vote

:37:35. > :37:40.for us. To thank everybody that helped to spread the word and up us

:37:41. > :37:45.canvass. It is testament to all of the hard work we have done in the

:37:46. > :37:49.last three years. Standing in five election, three elections and two

:37:50. > :37:54.years, the vote has gone up each time it is a testament to the hard

:37:55. > :38:00.work done on the ground. What message do you think that the

:38:01. > :38:04.voters are sending to Sinn Fein, they were the stronghold for

:38:05. > :38:08.decades? The message is that they are fed up with the status quo with

:38:09. > :38:14.the society, with the way that things are going. Fed up with the

:38:15. > :38:20.poverty. The highest levels here. And the corporations and the tax

:38:21. > :38:24.cuts, the handouts, receiving handouts where people are getting

:38:25. > :38:29.cuts. People are losing jobs, benefits slashed. That. And those in

:38:30. > :38:33.West Belfast looking for an alternative it is a great vote a

:38:34. > :38:40.fantastic vote it is global phenomena. We are seeing the rise of

:38:41. > :38:44.Bernie Saunders in America. The radical left in socialist politics.

:38:45. > :38:49.Thank you very much for talking with us. Congratulations again. We can

:38:50. > :38:54.hand to Julian O'Neill who has not so much of a success story there.

:38:55. > :39:02.That's right. One of the first big casualties of

:39:03. > :39:08.this election, independent Unionist John McAllister who began life as an

:39:09. > :39:14.Ulster Unionist Party, MLA career now over as an independent Unionist,

:39:15. > :39:18.what went wrong, John? Well, I suppose in an election not enough

:39:19. > :39:23.people voted! Was it the party machine or the lack of it in your

:39:24. > :39:27.case? The lack of party machine. Competing with other big party

:39:28. > :39:32.machines. That is a problem, getting the message out there. But for me, I

:39:33. > :39:37.have been an MLA for two terms for nine years. We have over the nine

:39:38. > :39:43.years had the privilege of helping thousands of constituents with all

:39:44. > :39:46.kinds of problems. I have had two private members' bills passed. I am

:39:47. > :39:50.proud of the campaign team that helped to work. I would like to

:39:51. > :39:54.thank everyone that voted and supported us.

:39:55. > :40:00.You you leave in opposition, you are not going to a part of Stormont

:40:01. > :40:03.going forward. Will the place be poorer for independent, lone voices

:40:04. > :40:15.to be heard in the chamber? I think we need that. People like Gerry

:40:16. > :40:22.McCann being elected and if the Greens come back. That is important.

:40:23. > :40:29.Even though I have a legislation through, we look set on how long we

:40:30. > :40:33.will be to starting again. Our ministers are doing great work but

:40:34. > :40:36.we knee robust opposition to challenge, scrutinise and provide

:40:37. > :40:41.the alternative for the voters. You will be able to go back to the

:40:42. > :40:47.farm, the day job, some may say the real job? Some may say. But it is a

:40:48. > :40:52.pity that farming is not in great shape either. Milk is bad, beef is

:40:53. > :40:57.bad, grain prices are bad. But I'm looking forward this year so far

:40:58. > :41:02.between a very busy Assembly term and election campaign, I am looking

:41:03. > :41:07.forward to having some time with family and the kids. That is

:41:08. > :41:11.important. Important to go back to that. But thank you again to

:41:12. > :41:15.everyone who supported. And everyone who has supported me in the past

:41:16. > :41:20.nine years. So thank you very much for joining

:41:21. > :41:26.us. No-one yet making the first quota.

:41:27. > :41:34.A very difficult day for John McAllister. Let's hear from Alex and

:41:35. > :41:39.Kathy, Alex, you know John McAllister well and Mike Nesbitt. So

:41:40. > :41:42.far as far as he is concerned a good day in Strangford.

:41:43. > :41:48.Very good. John, I have known for many years. A great guy. I think

:41:49. > :41:52.that the opposition billed one of the most important decisions in the

:41:53. > :41:58.last 20 years. A big loss. D'you deep down he knew it would require a

:41:59. > :42:03.miracle. Mike Nesbitt will be happy. Party leader, topping the poll.

:42:04. > :42:07.The problem is, it is indicated by the response to your envelope

:42:08. > :42:14.question, all of the evidence coming through, and I have been in contact

:42:15. > :42:18.with the UUP P, they are admitting privately that they are

:42:19. > :42:22.underperforming. To 11 was the worst ever election result in terms of the

:42:23. > :42:26.Assembly. At the minute they are pushing 1. 5%. If they are not

:42:27. > :42:32.getting the votes he will be hard pushed to come back.

:42:33. > :42:36.So, for example we have heard that Rodney McKeown is struggling in

:42:37. > :42:40.South Belfast. You can hear why Mike is saying he will wring in the

:42:41. > :42:46.envelope but saying he was overall ambitious. If the number in the

:42:47. > :42:51.envelope is in the '20s, it is not looking like tallying with reality?

:42:52. > :42:55.Maybe. But what he didn't say in 2011, the Ulster Unionist party is

:42:56. > :43:01.the most transfer friendly party of all of the main parties. We are in

:43:02. > :43:07.for the long hall. Until late tomorrow before we have the full

:43:08. > :43:13.results. We tend to be getting animated about 38, 40, so the

:43:14. > :43:17.majority of people are elected with transfers and the UUP P gets most

:43:18. > :43:22.transfers from other parties and gives most transfers to other

:43:23. > :43:29.parties. That is important. A quick caveat. That rule works if

:43:30. > :43:37.you are in the 7, 8, 9th position. The U Ulster Unionist Party UP are

:43:38. > :43:42.down. They may not survive. And how do you think it is shaping

:43:43. > :43:49.up? It is early. I was interested in the Gerry

:43:50. > :43:53.Carroll whopping vote. He was so far ahead of the nearest rival stere

:43:54. > :43:58.Sinn Fein had been trying to set that up. There was a bit of

:43:59. > :44:03.generalised Gerry Adams doing the people need to make clear their

:44:04. > :44:10.attitude to violence. He was not pointing at Gerry Carroll, he could

:44:11. > :44:13.not. That was at independent candidates in general a warning that

:44:14. > :44:18.people are getting votes from dissidents. One of the things that

:44:19. > :44:23.Gerry Carroll probably has done. But he has a left-wing vote. That is

:44:24. > :44:32.significant for Sinn Fein who have messed up so badly in West Belfast.

:44:33. > :44:41.That is echoed in Foyle. Eamon McCann and Anne McClusky have done

:44:42. > :44:47.well. There is a fame on the left in terms of the republicanism.

:44:48. > :44:52.I have heard that Arlene Foster, no surprise, has been surprised. I'm

:44:53. > :45:02.assuming she topped the poll. I'm not sure but I know she held on to

:45:03. > :45:07.her seat where she has topped the poll. Not surprised at that. There

:45:08. > :45:12.is Brian working on a cartoon of Arlene. She is looking quite angry

:45:13. > :45:17.in that. In the style of Carson, of course! If you are wondering what is

:45:18. > :45:20.happening with the hand there. It is a default expression. Looking

:45:21. > :45:26.angry. Not being an angry motorist.

:45:27. > :45:31.Lots of numbers in for Mark and Nicholas to get their teeth into.

:45:32. > :45:38.I hope she likes that cartoon, I know from experience when previous

:45:39. > :45:42.cartoonists came up with caricatures she didn't like, she let them know

:45:43. > :45:48.about it. Colum Eastwood was saying that Foyle was too early to call.

:45:49. > :45:51.Shall we try to give him a run for his money? This has been the big

:45:52. > :45:55.battle between the two nationalist parties. We have the vote share on

:45:56. > :45:59.the first preference votes. On the face of it, you might think SDLP

:46:00. > :46:04.will be very happy, they have the biggest share at 30%. Sinn Fein,

:46:05. > :46:18.Martin McGuinness arriving back home, quite a narrow lead? Very

:46:19. > :46:22.narrow, both sitting on about 30%. Eamon McCann, and a number of

:46:23. > :46:27.independents, including Anne McCloskey. Let's look at the change.

:46:28. > :46:32.You can see that both of the Nationalists are down about 5%. It's

:46:33. > :46:36.a very interesting. I said earlier that turnout appears to be down

:46:37. > :46:39.generally in nationalist areas. It looks like the vote is down for

:46:40. > :46:48.nationalist parties and we are seeing the SDLP in various places.

:46:49. > :46:52.Even if they don't get elected, where do the votes go to? Martin

:46:53. > :47:00.McGuinness, very narrowly topping the poll over Colum Eastwood. Who

:47:01. > :47:05.else would you call, apart from the top two? The DUP are certain Gary

:47:06. > :47:09.Middelton, enough to put them ahead. I think the SDLP will lose one of

:47:10. > :47:15.their seats. They go into this with three. Gerard Diver has nowhere near

:47:16. > :47:19.enough to be elected. They will lose one of their seats to Eamon McCann

:47:20. > :47:24.or Anne McCloskey. I would have thought Eamon McCann, 700 votes

:47:25. > :47:28.ahead, I would be surprised if that gap closes. For Sinn Fein, they will

:47:29. > :47:32.get two in. McLauchlan will be eliminated and her votes will be

:47:33. > :47:36.sufficient to elect Raymond McCartney. To some extent, it has

:47:37. > :47:41.paid off, they have taken the SDLP down by one, but they have not made

:47:42. > :47:49.a game, Martin McGuinness has potentially taken a place. You think

:47:50. > :47:53.Gerard Diver unlikely to survive? Absolutely. Another key battle

:47:54. > :47:58.ground has been in south Belfast, a lot of new faces in the field. The

:47:59. > :48:04.DUP, they held their own with their two new faces, Emma Little Pengelly

:48:05. > :48:09.and Christopher Stortford. They only had one MLA last time. Let's have a

:48:10. > :48:13.look at the change in south Belfast, before we look at the personalities.

:48:14. > :48:20.The DUP actually dropped a percentage on last time. But the

:48:21. > :48:24.SDLP actually dropping more? It is a vote against established parties to

:48:25. > :48:29.a certain extent. This is a seat that the SDLP holds at Westminster,

:48:30. > :48:36.to get only 20% in a seat you have at Westminster, a rocky result. The

:48:37. > :48:40.story in this election, a big increase in the Green vote. Clare

:48:41. > :48:46.Bailey, in fifth position, quite possibly getting a seat, one would

:48:47. > :48:50.imagine some of Anna Lo's vote? I think that is right. The DUP have

:48:51. > :48:56.balanced well between their candidates. Even though they took a

:48:57. > :49:01.decrease in the seat, they have delivered two seats, a gain for the

:49:02. > :49:07.DUP? I'd call it a gain for the Ulster Unionists and a gain for the

:49:08. > :49:11.Green Party. Fearghal McKinney a high-profile casualties, if he

:49:12. > :49:16.doesn't survive. Rodney McCune was trying to inherit the seat? Poor

:49:17. > :49:21.Rodney, his second unsuccessful attempt. Ruth Patterson off the

:49:22. > :49:25.scale, we thought she might do damage to the DUP, she hasn't. Some

:49:26. > :49:35.transfer votes have been distributed here. This is the business towards

:49:36. > :49:40.climbing towards it. She has one transfer on that stage. We still

:49:41. > :49:47.think that Fearghal McKinney and Rodney McCune losing out. That is

:49:48. > :49:51.the first breakdown. There is a lot to be talked about as the accounts

:49:52. > :49:56.go on. The transfer of votes is coming in, but we think it is bad

:49:57. > :49:59.news for the SDLP in Foyle in South Belfast.

:50:00. > :50:11.Let's hear from Banbridge Leisure Centre. Dolores Kelly, former deputy

:50:12. > :50:17.leader of the SDLP. Could be in a bit of a fight for her seat, we

:50:18. > :50:26.here? Yes, that is right. Dolores said she was in a scrap for her

:50:27. > :50:30.seat, so how much of a scrap are you in? We will know shortly when the

:50:31. > :50:34.quota is finalised and the first preference votes are out. I need to

:50:35. > :50:39.keep ahead of some of the candidates to stay in the race, at least I am

:50:40. > :50:43.transfer friendly. The transfer got me over the line last time, on this

:50:44. > :50:49.occasion I have transfers coming in right across the political spectrum.

:50:50. > :50:53.I think we will be in it to the end. You have been in this position

:50:54. > :50:58.before, held by 340 seats last time. Not an unusual situation to find

:50:59. > :51:02.yourself in? But it doesn't make it an enjoyable one. Very difficult. We

:51:03. > :51:07.put a lot of work in, we had a good reception on the doorstep. One of

:51:08. > :51:11.the biggest difficulties is turnout. This comes down to tiny margins, as

:51:12. > :51:17.you have described. The fact there is another candidate also called

:51:18. > :51:20.Kelly that was for the campaign Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol, do

:51:21. > :51:26.you think there might be some candidate confusion that might work

:51:27. > :51:30.against you? I am hoping in terms of transfers, it will rectify itself.

:51:31. > :51:33.But I do think there might have been a slight confusion. It will be

:51:34. > :51:36.interesting to see what the first preferences are for that candidate

:51:37. > :51:41.and see where that comes in. My team are telling me I do have number twos

:51:42. > :51:46.off that, part of it might be intentional transfer, some might be

:51:47. > :51:50.people rectify the mistake on the ballot paper. You were angry when I

:51:51. > :51:54.spoke to you earlier, about the number of tally people in from Sinn

:51:55. > :51:58.Fein. Explain what the issue was that you have and whether it has

:51:59. > :52:01.been addressed? There are 17 candidates on the ballot paper and

:52:02. > :52:06.we were all advised by the electoral office we could have three count

:52:07. > :52:10.agents. Our election agent, a family member and ourselves. That brought

:52:11. > :52:14.it up to six people per candidate. All of those have that with the

:52:15. > :52:18.exception of Sinn Fein. They had 11 count agents each, plus the other

:52:19. > :52:23.two. They have overwhelmed the town centre. I think it is unfair.

:52:24. > :52:28.Candidates use it for intelligence, to give an idea of the tally.

:52:29. > :52:33.Dolores Kelly, thank you. That issue has already been raised with the

:52:34. > :52:45.electoral office. Thank you very much indeed. Jim Wells, now, joining

:52:46. > :52:51.me from his count in South Down. You are in there, in third position,

:52:52. > :52:57.with 5033 first preferences. You are comfortable you will hold onto the

:52:58. > :53:01.seat? Well, 2000 votes up on the last election, not only with the

:53:02. > :53:06.size of my vote, that the huge gap between me and the next Unionists.

:53:07. > :53:11.The DUP have been established as, by far, the strongest Unionist party in

:53:12. > :53:14.South Down. Can I ask in all seriousness of you would shed a tear

:53:15. > :53:18.for John McCallister? You have been a constituency colleague, a

:53:19. > :53:23.different brand of unionism, but it is tough for him today he has been

:53:24. > :53:30.eliminated? It is. I get on extremely well with John. He's an

:53:31. > :53:34.easy person to like. His campaign was toxic because he supported gay

:53:35. > :53:39.marriage and abortion, issues that went down very badly with the

:53:40. > :53:43.electorate in South Down. Dora Altidore told me well they liked

:53:44. > :53:49.John and thought he was very able, they could not handle his views on

:53:50. > :54:00.those issues. Do you think there will be a seat? -- door after door.

:54:01. > :54:05.Is there a second Unionist seat this time around? There definitely is.

:54:06. > :54:09.There are almost 13,000 Unionist votes on the table, well over two

:54:10. > :54:13.quarters. The Unionists have used their brains. The transfer rate

:54:14. > :54:17.looks like 90%, the highest recorded in Northern Ireland history. That

:54:18. > :54:23.should carry Harry McCain very easily. I am confident we have

:54:24. > :54:34.retained the Unionist seats, but with the DUP the strongest? No seat

:54:35. > :54:39.for the TUV? No, that shocked me, he ran the most extensive and expensive

:54:40. > :54:42.campaign I have ever seen. Had a huge number of workers, fantastic

:54:43. > :54:45.literature and posters, but his vote has not gone up since the last

:54:46. > :54:51.election. That has shocked me and many people in South Down, and also

:54:52. > :54:55.Henry's team. Good to talk to you, we will presumably find out when the

:54:56. > :54:58.first number of seats are allocated in due course. You are certainly in

:54:59. > :55:09.a good position at the moment. Thank you very much indeed. We are here in

:55:10. > :55:12.Titanic in Belfast. Caroline Kean, you are an accountant, what would

:55:13. > :55:17.you say to the politicians as they go into the new mandate? Well, for

:55:18. > :55:20.the next five years, I would like to see quite a bit of change. I would

:55:21. > :55:26.like to think we would see more of the same, lots of things are going

:55:27. > :55:30.in our favour. We have the corporation tax cut, and I would

:55:31. > :55:35.like to see that to be a big focus and an opportunity for maybe a

:55:36. > :55:37.corporate tax task force are being created to maximise the

:55:38. > :55:42.opportunities. I think the key thing is to see parties work together in

:55:43. > :55:47.tandem, rather than the silo approach we might have seen in the

:55:48. > :55:53.past, making the economy and business the real central focus for

:55:54. > :55:56.government going forward. We have heard them talking about health and

:55:57. > :56:01.education, the cuts in budgets. We have heard about the ?1 billion

:56:02. > :56:04.pledged for health, but we don't know to what detriment of other

:56:05. > :56:08.departments are going to suffer. We would like to sit down and see in

:56:09. > :56:11.terms of how the budget is going to be carved out, I can't help but

:56:12. > :56:16.think we have the economy and business, if we got that right, so

:56:17. > :56:19.much more would follow on from that. What you think they are doing wrong?

:56:20. > :56:23.What could they have done differently? In terms of business

:56:24. > :56:30.support, as we know in Northern Ireland, there is a big dependence

:56:31. > :56:37.on the public sector. I think to try and grow the public sector, looking

:56:38. > :56:42.for smaller businesses, enable them to grow and get access to funding,

:56:43. > :56:45.particularly around exports. We know it is a small market, companies need

:56:46. > :56:49.to be exporting. I think it is breaking down some of the barriers

:56:50. > :56:56.and obstacles to help companies. Investment has a big role to play on

:56:57. > :57:00.that. From an accountancy point of view, you issued a statement

:57:01. > :57:07.recently criticising how money has been handled? Yes, I believe there

:57:08. > :57:11.is a lack of long-term financial planning in the public sector. The

:57:12. > :57:14.evidence is that where there is a lot of discussion about fiscal

:57:15. > :57:20.deficit in Northern Ireland, nobody seems to have a handle on that. With

:57:21. > :57:24.corporation tax, exactly what is that going to cost? The Institute

:57:25. > :57:28.firmly believes that there needs to be an improvement in the long-term

:57:29. > :57:31.financial planning, same as you would in any business. You would

:57:32. > :57:37.look up the balance sheet, look at what you own and make forward

:57:38. > :57:40.planning decisions based on that. It's very difficult for governments

:57:41. > :57:43.to form a plan because of the nature of only having a certain number of

:57:44. > :57:48.years to be in government, and they can't take the next term for

:57:49. > :57:53.granted. How do we compare to other institutions? I suppose the problem

:57:54. > :57:55.here is that the Finance committee income we get allocated primarily

:57:56. > :57:59.through the block grant, what that means is that you have an

:58:00. > :58:02.administration here that is really managing a budget, rather than

:58:03. > :58:06.having any hand on any fiscal levers. OK, it is getting

:58:07. > :58:11.corporation tax devolved, but we seek a case for a further devolution

:58:12. > :58:15.settlement, similar to Scotland, where the Assembly could raise 50%

:58:16. > :58:20.or 60% of revenues through air passenger duty, income tax and other

:58:21. > :58:26.taxes. That way, you build more accountability locally. The Assembly

:58:27. > :58:29.would be genuinely accountable to the electorate for not only the

:58:30. > :58:33.revenue it raises, but what it spends. Coupled with that, that is

:58:34. > :58:36.why we are stressing the need for longer term planning, really. That

:58:37. > :58:44.would need to be in place, they would need to have some kind of

:58:45. > :58:48.fiscal framework to enable that power and to manage it responsibly.

:58:49. > :58:52.A familiar face to those in the business community, you are retired

:58:53. > :58:57.now, but what was your key issue? Was it the skill shortage? Is that

:58:58. > :59:01.where we fall down? I think so, there was a whole ecosystem in

:59:02. > :59:05.politics. It is all very well cutting corporation tax and saying

:59:06. > :59:10.it is the panacea for our problems. For economic development to happen,

:59:11. > :59:15.you have to have the skills and talent for companies to come in. For

:59:16. > :59:18.that you need a good education system, particularly higher and

:59:19. > :59:22.further education, then if you move back into the education system, we

:59:23. > :59:26.have a lot of things wrong with education here. It is very good at

:59:27. > :59:29.one end of the scale, but we have chronic underachievement at the

:59:30. > :59:33.other end of this scale. We need to address that as an important part of

:59:34. > :59:36.it. We are moving into a new dispensation where we have a

:59:37. > :59:42.Department for the economy, which I am very happy to see, but what we

:59:43. > :59:50.need to do is to see all politicians moving in a more collegiate way,

:59:51. > :59:52.where they work with each other. Department of the economy working

:59:53. > :59:55.with the Department for Education, and we don't get the silo that were

:59:56. > :59:59.used to have, and, dare I mention it, contention between certain

:00:00. > :00:11.departments. I think that needs to go. I'm very keen to see how the

:00:12. > :00:12.plan for new government pans out. Food for thought for the

:00:13. > :00:22.politicians. My panel has been replenished. I am

:00:23. > :00:31.pleased to say. Joined by Martina Anderson of Sinn Fein.

:00:32. > :00:36.Clare Hannah from the SDLP, and Nigel Dodds, the campaign director,

:00:37. > :00:40.a director of elections for the DUP. A tremendous responsibility on your

:00:41. > :00:48.shoulders today? Yes, proud to be the director of elections for the

:00:49. > :00:55.DUP. And Lord MP, form do you have a

:00:56. > :00:59.title? I am chairman of the party. You watched Mike Nesbitt. Let's talk

:01:00. > :01:03.about him. Discussing the envelope, saying he might have been

:01:04. > :01:07.overambitious in the number he wrote in the secret envelope that he

:01:08. > :01:12.posted to himself and is going to open on the output either tonight or

:01:13. > :01:19.tomorrow. That will be embarrassing? I don't know what he has put in it.

:01:20. > :01:23.He clearly knows, he is beginning to play down people's expectations?

:01:24. > :01:29.Maybe he posted more than one. Oh, my goodness. I thought I was

:01:30. > :01:33.cynical for thinking that! A good opening question for tomorrow? I'm

:01:34. > :01:40.pretty sure he posted one. Are you sure? Absolutely sure.

:01:41. > :01:44.Right, OK. That is interesting. Let's rewind the last 30 seconds.

:01:45. > :01:49.So, joking apart. A bit of a struggle in some of the counts? As

:01:50. > :01:52.you know elections are determined largely by what happened in the

:01:53. > :01:58.large seats. You must be in with a shout. We had two separate elections

:01:59. > :02:06.to fight to recover the seats we had lost through defections. Which of

:02:07. > :02:10.course doesn't count as come par outers as what you are elected the

:02:11. > :02:14.last time is what you are judged with this time. That is fine. But

:02:15. > :02:19.the point is to show growth over that. Two separate things to

:02:20. > :02:23.achieve. You were hoping for a bounce in

:02:24. > :02:32.South Antrim. It is not looking like you have the bounce. Of the three

:02:33. > :02:39.candidates, one candidate is in a third position. No a strong

:02:40. > :02:46.position? Adrian was only in office for nine months. I must say I

:02:47. > :02:50.thought he proved to be a very effective MLA. But we are not

:02:51. > :02:55.throwing in any of the seats it is too early. These things go right

:02:56. > :03:03.down to the end. There are lots of votes to be transferred. We are

:03:04. > :03:08.still hopeful. OK, Clare Hannah, you are the only candidate at the table.

:03:09. > :03:21.I am double checking, in case somebody changed seats. But looking

:03:22. > :03:29.at south Belfast, you are in second spot, 4,516, and the others 5007.

:03:30. > :03:34.You must be quietly confident you would be successful? I am not there

:03:35. > :03:40.yet but yes, on the numbers it looks likely I will be elected.

:03:41. > :03:45.What about your running mate, Feargal McKinney? We don't know yet.

:03:46. > :03:50.Bearing in mind we have always been tight. Always taking the last seat.

:03:51. > :03:55.Winning it with as few as 13 votes over the last four or five

:03:56. > :03:58.elections. So it has been tight. In the 2011 election, the second

:03:59. > :04:05.candidate was written off at this point. So not gone yet but it is

:04:06. > :04:09.competitive. 18 candidates, and there were always 10 strongly in the

:04:10. > :04:15.hunt for the six seats. Overall, as far as the SDLP, talking

:04:16. > :04:19.to Collum Eastwood a short time ago, he was crowing about the performance

:04:20. > :04:24.of the party in Foyle, where the SDLP has outpolled Sinn Fein. He was

:04:25. > :04:31.happy? I'm sure he was not crowing. He is entitled to be pleased.

:04:32. > :04:39.It is not a pejorative term. We were told that they would smash

:04:40. > :04:43.the SDLP in our heartland. And while the SDLP third seat is not

:04:44. > :04:47.guaranteed, the leader of Sinn Fein did try to take the fight to the

:04:48. > :04:52.back yard and Collum Eastwood has held off. He is entitled to be

:04:53. > :04:59.pleased. He did beat him in a head to head.

:05:00. > :05:04.Let's hear from Martina Anderson. You won the beauty contest but maybe

:05:05. > :05:08.didn't win what counts, which is the overall party standing? I think we

:05:09. > :05:13.did win counts. Martin McGuinness went to Derry, not to try to take on

:05:14. > :05:19.the SDLP, nothing could be further than the truth.

:05:20. > :05:23.What for then? Martin McGuinness has been working two constituencies. He

:05:24. > :05:27.went from one, took is from Ground Zero to build it up to what it is

:05:28. > :05:31.now. Martin McGuinness wanted to go in as someone at the heart of

:05:32. > :05:38.government to go back to his own place. He said yesterday, there

:05:39. > :05:42.would be him going home at 10.00pm and there would be people waiting

:05:43. > :05:50.for him to talk about issues. Is that because the two MLAs could

:05:51. > :05:54.not do the job? Not at all! It is because Martin McGuinness is at the

:05:55. > :05:57.art of government. He is a joint First Minister. People took the

:05:58. > :06:02.opportunity as he was in the constituency, obviously, to talk to

:06:03. > :06:08.him about the issues. That Martin McGuinness did talk to them.

:06:09. > :06:14.If it was an attempt to take out the SDLP it has not worked as the SDLP

:06:15. > :06:19.has outpolled Sinn Fein. At no time did Sinn Fein say that was Martin

:06:20. > :06:23.McGuinness's intention. If not, why did he go back? He

:06:24. > :06:38.wanted to go home. For an easier ride? He wanted a

:06:39. > :06:42.focus on Derry, to take it to the place where he took... Was it a

:06:43. > :06:47.mistake to go to Ulster? No. Of course. It was not a mistake. He

:06:48. > :06:52.went into mid-Ulster. At that time we had only a few counts. Look at

:06:53. > :07:01.what we have now. Three people in on the first count, today.

:07:02. > :07:08.In mid-Ulster? Yes. Martin McGuinness said that was not

:07:09. > :07:14.where Mid Ulster was. I believe that Martin McGuinness will bring the

:07:15. > :07:18.same energy and enthusiasm to Derry. What if there is not a return to

:07:19. > :07:23.Stormont because of Martin McGuinness's return to the home

:07:24. > :07:27.city? That is possible. You will probably end up with two. Not go to

:07:28. > :07:31.three. Therefore Martin McGuinness has come in and knocked out one of

:07:32. > :07:36.his own men. That was a discussion we had. We didn't go into this with

:07:37. > :07:40.our eyes closed. We went into it as a possibility but

:07:41. > :07:45.we went in it to win. And if you didn't win... Of course.

:07:46. > :07:49.It was anything but a master stroke. We were prepared to take the risk to

:07:50. > :07:55.bring Martin back to Derry to deliver for the people of Derry.

:07:56. > :08:00.Nigel Dodds, let's talk about your party and the performances.

:08:01. > :08:05.A few fairly successful, I mean, David Hilditch was the first one. It

:08:06. > :08:10.looks like you could be good for three. People talking about David

:08:11. > :08:16.Hilditch as being the one that could lose out but he topped the poll, the

:08:17. > :08:21.first MLA return. Joanne Bunting has done well. You could be good for

:08:22. > :08:24.two? Obviously I have been at the Titanic Exhibition Centre this

:08:25. > :08:29.morning, looking at my own seat of north Belfast where the three DUP

:08:30. > :08:35.candidates have come in within 500 votes, all of them over 4,000 votes.

:08:36. > :08:40.The Ulster Unionist has halved. The other parties have gone becomewards.

:08:41. > :08:44.I think it is significant that we will get the three elected there

:08:45. > :08:49.easily. East Belfast is looking well. Joanne Bunting, the first time

:08:50. > :08:54.out to top the poll in East Belfast. The Alliance Party have been pushed

:08:55. > :08:59.back considerably. South Belfast is also looking good. The Ulster

:09:00. > :09:04.Unionist candidate seems to have done badly there. I'm not across all

:09:05. > :09:12.of the detail but it is looking as if we are in with a very good chance

:09:13. > :09:15.of two in south Belfast. In West Belfast, even the political

:09:16. > :09:21.opponents are beginning to say there is a chance of Frank McCubery taking

:09:22. > :09:26.a seat there. The SDLP have performed badly in that seat. This

:09:27. > :09:32.is early days. A long way to go. But encouraged by the performances in

:09:33. > :09:36.the first preference count. And Arlene for First Minister? That

:09:37. > :09:40.is in the hands of the people. You made a play about that in the

:09:41. > :09:45.campaign? Obviously in terms of the last time out. And Nicholas Whyte

:09:46. > :09:50.made the point clear. The number of times and other experts to get 38

:09:51. > :09:53.the last time was a phenomenon alachievement, picking up seats in

:09:54. > :09:59.the last-minute, the last counts that broke our way. To get anywhere

:10:00. > :10:03.near that we would be doing well. But certainly people were targeting

:10:04. > :10:09.East Antrim, north Belfast, East Belfast, saying we would lose seats,

:10:10. > :10:16.Strangford, the rest of it. At the minute it is looking solid. I am so

:10:17. > :10:21.thankful to the people who rewarded the Democratic Unionist Party

:10:22. > :10:25.candidates. I want to congratulate them for fighting an invigorating

:10:26. > :10:31.campaign. I am hearing that the first count in

:10:32. > :10:35.West Tyrone is going to a re-count before a declaration is made. That

:10:36. > :10:39.is interesting. That is why this kind of election can take such a

:10:40. > :10:45.very long time. And why the 5th and the 6th seats can be a long time.

:10:46. > :10:48.It is encouraging that we have the first counts reasonably quickly.

:10:49. > :10:54.How much pressure is under Arlene Foster as the party leader? As we

:10:55. > :10:59.have discussed before the campaign was hung on her shoulders. That was

:11:00. > :11:02.either a master stroke or a mistake, we don't know.

:11:03. > :11:06.Obviously the election outcome will determine that. I don't think that

:11:07. > :11:11.Arlene is under pressure. Leading from the front. She has been visible

:11:12. > :11:14.since becoming the First Minister. She is clearly someone who is

:11:15. > :11:20.popular amongst the population at large. Not just Unionists but across

:11:21. > :11:25.the board. She has a positive vision for Northern Ireland. And from her

:11:26. > :11:31.own voting, I am hering that the candidates are in with a first count

:11:32. > :11:35.on a massive vote, which is a tremendous testament to her

:11:36. > :11:43.popularity in the country. I looked at Scotland and Nicola

:11:44. > :11:47.Sturgeon, it was all about her becoming the First Minister, Carwyn

:11:48. > :11:50.Jones, all of that. When you have someone leading the country, the

:11:51. > :11:54.biggest party, someone putting forward a positive vision, it is

:11:55. > :11:59.natural that people respond. People want to see Arlene do well. I think

:12:00. > :12:03.we are being rewarded for that. Do you think you will get the two at

:12:04. > :12:11.Fermanagh South Tyrone. But just one at the moment.

:12:12. > :12:17.Then Michelle guild hue. You will get the two in but you will have to

:12:18. > :12:21.wait a moment or two. They are slightly below at this

:12:22. > :12:27.point. I want to bring in Kathy for a quick word. A quick thought on

:12:28. > :12:31.what you heard. Picking up on Nigel's point about

:12:32. > :12:37.Arlene for the First Minister. The assembly have looked at the

:12:38. > :12:42.terminology around the appointment of the First Minister and the first

:12:43. > :12:48.deputy, the titles, this is not something that will go away as an

:12:49. > :12:53.issue. We may see the term move to joint First Minister. So it could

:12:54. > :13:00.back fire. It is in the legislation. The law. It would require

:13:01. > :13:07.Westminster legislation. But the review committee is in place to

:13:08. > :13:13.review things like that occurring in the area. We implemented the fresh

:13:14. > :13:22.start legislation. It was part of the agreement. Some took a full role

:13:23. > :13:27.in implementing the fresh start. Some want to claim credit for the

:13:28. > :13:31.parts of it that are not so difficult. But we have had the

:13:32. > :13:36.negotiation. I am at Westminster a bit. I talk with the government

:13:37. > :13:38.whips, to many others, there is no prospect of Northern Ireland

:13:39. > :13:42.legislation on this issue coming forward.

:13:43. > :13:48.There is no circumstances which the DUP would agree to a change in it.

:13:49. > :13:54.It was introduced by Westminster edge layings as it was not in the

:13:55. > :13:58.original 1998 act voted in the agreement that people voted for in

:13:59. > :14:05.1998. The system for identifying the deputy and First Minister has

:14:06. > :14:09.changed since 2006. It was deliberately changed. It gives a

:14:10. > :14:16.huge advantage to the Sinn Fein and the DUP. OK, we will maybe get a

:14:17. > :14:20.chance to come back to this. There is so much other interesting things

:14:21. > :14:27.happening. We will bounce around with that. It is early days but the

:14:28. > :14:34.Stormont benches are slowly becoming populated.

:14:35. > :14:37.We are built a virtual Assembly chamber inside the BBC studio.

:14:38. > :14:42.Stormont as you have never or seen or heard it before. It is all very

:14:43. > :14:45.quiet. In the past hour, as we know, this chamber has been slowly

:14:46. > :14:53.populated. Who is leading at the moment? The DUP. There they come.

:14:54. > :14:58.Six MLAs elected. We know Arlene Foster led almost a presidential

:14:59. > :15:03.campaign. She has six MLAs in including herself. And what the DUP

:15:04. > :15:10.was to fill that entire bench down to about there. 38 the last time

:15:11. > :15:14.under Peter Robinson. Remember him. They want as many this time. And as

:15:15. > :15:21.Mark Carruthers has said, it is early days. To the other side of the

:15:22. > :15:26.chamber, Sinn Fein. Just behind the DUP with four MLAs. But early days.

:15:27. > :15:32.We will have to see if they do what they want to do at the minimum to

:15:33. > :15:38.fill the bench to get up to 30 seats to give them that right of veto.

:15:39. > :15:46.What about the SDLP? Well, Patsy McGlone is there. Looking lonely

:15:47. > :15:51.with only one SDLP MLA as we speak. What about the Ulster Unionist?

:15:52. > :15:55.There is Mike Nesbitt. He is there as we have never seen him before.

:15:56. > :16:00.From Strangford. One Ulster Unionist. They got 16 the last time

:16:01. > :16:07.a lot of work to do to fill the benches. The Alliance Party got

:16:08. > :16:12.eight the last time. One in so far, night-timow lock is back. But will

:16:13. > :16:15.she have company? Yes, she will. People Before Profit will be there

:16:16. > :16:20.in the form of Gerry Carroll from West Belfast. So in the scores on

:16:21. > :16:25.the doors up there. We can see some sort of a pattern is emerging. It is

:16:26. > :16:30.pretty much what we expected. But it is early days. It was the week of

:16:31. > :16:34.the Belfast marathon. Tonight is very much a marathon. Not a sprint.

:16:35. > :16:47.We like a nice marathon. Look at this artwork, the artist is with me.

:16:48. > :16:51.Brian John Spencer, you make a career out of this, capturing those

:16:52. > :16:54.moments of the politicians. We have seen this picture already, but talk

:16:55. > :16:58.us through what you are thinking and how you were inspired? It started

:16:59. > :17:06.with this, the whole campaign, the DUP has been the Arlene show. All

:17:07. > :17:11.eyes on her. I did a simple depiction of her, quite often the

:17:12. > :17:19.ideas come as you do it. I have left blank here, for something witty. It

:17:20. > :17:34.didn't come. It dawned on me, she is a real defender of the union, so

:17:35. > :17:37.this came. I think the phrase I have heard, the Norn Iron Lady. A

:17:38. > :17:44.consummate professional, but really caustic as well, like Thatcher, the

:17:45. > :17:49.iron Lady, the Norn Iron Lady. Are you going to get it to her, or is it

:17:50. > :17:53.for your personal collection? The whole thing about being a political

:17:54. > :17:56.cartoonist is you are meant to provoke the ire of the

:17:57. > :17:59.establishment. At some of them come after me and say, isn't that

:18:00. > :18:04.wonderful, isn't that great? Mark Devenport was saying she is not

:18:05. > :18:09.behind the door about telling a cartoonist she doesn't like their

:18:10. > :18:13.work. Have you had that experience? Well, everybody knows Ian Knox, and

:18:14. > :18:18.he has been around for decades. He would always be told off by her, she

:18:19. > :18:22.was very caustic, because of her big years. She doesn't have big years,

:18:23. > :18:29.but he draws her with them for some reason. I haven't had a telling off

:18:30. > :18:36.yet. The whole idea of a cartoonist account of exaggerated. Paul McLean,

:18:37. > :18:40.you are with us, you are a bookie, give us a flavour of what people

:18:41. > :18:46.were putting on? The betting on the political action has been more on

:18:47. > :18:49.the fifth and sixth seats, the independents. The big names are so

:18:50. > :18:53.short, nobody is interested in betting, there is no value. We have

:18:54. > :18:58.seen a lot of interest in Foyle for a couple of candidates, Maurice

:18:59. > :19:02.Devenney, took a lot of money for Anne McCloskey, it seems to be that

:19:03. > :19:07.customers are interested more in the 20-1 chances that might get the

:19:08. > :19:14.fifth or sixth seat, rather than the 1-4 big names. You were mentioning

:19:15. > :19:18.Arlene, the man in the street is not interested in that. It is the big

:19:19. > :19:23.prices for the independents. We have taken a number of big bets. We took

:19:24. > :19:31.?1000 on Paula Bradshaw to win his seat, ?1000 on Robin Swann to regain

:19:32. > :19:37.his seat. Did he but money on himself? I haven't looked at the

:19:38. > :19:43.CCTV! There will only win ?200 or ?300, maybe they say it has a way of

:19:44. > :19:48.getting a night away, or a nice coat courtesy of the candidate. Is it a

:19:49. > :19:52.big night? Much bigger than the national election last year, because

:19:53. > :19:55.of first past the post, there were so many shoe ins and people knew

:19:56. > :20:00.they were going to win seats. Because they have five or six seats,

:20:01. > :20:04.there is a lot more interest. People think, we might have a chance of

:20:05. > :20:09.getting in there. I would say from this election, the general election

:20:10. > :20:14.last year, political betting is probably up by 30% or 40%. Thanks

:20:15. > :20:19.for joining us, Brian, you are staying with us into the evening. We

:20:20. > :20:23.will see a lot more from you later. For now, Mark Devenport is going to

:20:24. > :20:28.update us on the figures. I am not a betting man, neither is

:20:29. > :20:32.Nicholas, that would be unfair! Privileged information. We try to

:20:33. > :20:37.give people a few tips, but it is too late, right now. Let's go to

:20:38. > :20:41.Fermanagh, South Tyrone, as the bookmaker was saying, there was no

:20:42. > :20:51.money to be won on predicting that Arlene Foster would top the poll.

:20:52. > :20:55.She had a 77.5% turnout. Over 8001st choice votes, pretty impressive for

:20:56. > :20:59.an election like this. Turnout across Fermanagh is down from last

:21:00. > :21:04.time. Maybe that shows if the DUP vote held up, in nationalist areas

:21:05. > :21:09.it was not holding up so well? Part of the pattern we have seen, the

:21:10. > :21:17.vote down in the West and nationalist seats. Sinn Fein topping

:21:18. > :21:23.the poll with 40%. Sinn Fein held their own. They have four

:21:24. > :21:26.candidates? It looked like a risky strategy, but the SDLP vote has

:21:27. > :21:30.fallen significantly and they are out of the picture. They got that

:21:31. > :21:35.result to the closest result in the last election. If you were looking

:21:36. > :21:41.at the Westminster election, you would have got that wrong. Instead,

:21:42. > :21:47.the swingometer shows... I will hold my hand up, I got this wrong. I

:21:48. > :21:53.thought they could capitalise on their games in Southampton and

:21:54. > :21:58.Fermanagh. Their well-known name, Tom Elliott, is on the green benches

:21:59. > :22:06.in the Commons and not in the fight. Arlene Foster has capitalised. Lagan

:22:07. > :22:10.Valley, a 47% share. The DUP got four seats, they did very well last

:22:11. > :22:16.time. Let's look at how things have changed. A big loss from the DUP? It

:22:17. > :22:18.is, but they balanced their candidates extremely well. The

:22:19. > :22:22.Ulster Unionists are fighting with me on Twitter about this at the

:22:23. > :22:27.moment, but I think the DUP have got a good chance. The Unionists need to

:22:28. > :22:36.regain the Misty Kyd won by Basil McCrea. The Alliance having a tricky

:22:37. > :22:40.time, but it looks like Trevor Lunn will hang on? That is my sense,

:22:41. > :22:45.there is not a nationalist sit there, and therefore there will be

:22:46. > :22:54.nationalist transfers. Robbie Butler likely to take Basil McCrea's seat.

:22:55. > :23:06.There are optimists around a score, but I am not one of them. Those are

:23:07. > :23:10.the constituencies there, for now. Reg Empey is with me, we are going

:23:11. > :23:15.to talk about some of the constituencies and the trends that

:23:16. > :23:18.are emerging. I was looking at East Londonderry, which is fascinating.

:23:19. > :23:24.We have another high profile independent in Claire Sugden, who

:23:25. > :23:30.took over from David McNarry, originally an Ulster Unionist. She

:23:31. > :23:35.is in a pretty good position. It's not particularly good for the SDLP

:23:36. > :23:41.candidate, Gerry Mullan, in eighth position at the moment. It is

:23:42. > :23:45.possible he might not hold onto that seat? I am in the bubble, I have

:23:46. > :23:54.just come from my own account and cannot get onto your Wi-Fi. It will

:23:55. > :23:57.be a long day and long night. Nowhere near Hardy last seats

:23:58. > :24:02.settled, I am sure there will be plenty of transfers. The SDLP was on

:24:03. > :24:07.the front foot, if it was a fresh start for your party, and a new

:24:08. > :24:12.leader, you would be in there scrapping over the seat? He has been

:24:13. > :24:15.the leader for less than six months coming he made it clear that Rome

:24:16. > :24:19.was not built in a day. Three quarters of the candidates were like

:24:20. > :24:25.me, first-time Assembly candidates. We have made it clear it will take

:24:26. > :24:31.time to rebuild, and we have time. Gerry Mullan is an old hand, he has

:24:32. > :24:35.been around a long time. He is a well-known counsellor? It is not a

:24:36. > :24:38.cult of youth, but we are rebuilding. If you look up the team

:24:39. > :24:43.on its way, which will hopefully include Gerry Mullan, we have the

:24:44. > :24:48.time to rebuild it. We know there is dissatisfaction in politics. At the

:24:49. > :24:51.moment, some people are not see the SDLP as the alternative. I know from

:24:52. > :24:56.knocking on doors that people are interested in what he has to say,

:24:57. > :25:00.and how he says it, but they have not known him well enough for that

:25:01. > :25:05.to have fully got into their consciousness. We will see there is

:25:06. > :25:10.independence getting in strongly, and smaller parties. That is

:25:11. > :25:15.something that is national. Nigel Dodds, you are responsible for the

:25:16. > :25:18.campaign that was sold on Arlene Foster. East Londonderry, you are

:25:19. > :25:23.looking pretty good for three seats. You will pretty much hold onto your

:25:24. > :25:26.three seats. Looking at the initial numbers, as far as East Londonderry

:25:27. > :25:31.is concerned, you will tell me that is a positive outcome. What you

:25:32. > :25:35.think people who voted number one for the DUP were voting for? To keep

:25:36. > :25:41.Martin McGuinness out of the First Minister's job, or voting in the

:25:42. > :25:48.knowledge, in the sure and certain knowledge, that the DUP is going to

:25:49. > :25:53.be back in government with Sinn Fein in a fortnight? In terms of East

:25:54. > :25:57.Londonderry, to keep three unionist seats in these constituencies is a

:25:58. > :26:01.phenomenal achievement. Especially ensuring that the vote is balanced

:26:02. > :26:05.correctly between candidates. I want to congratulate the East Londonderry

:26:06. > :26:09.team, along with the other teams that have done such a phenomenal job

:26:10. > :26:13.at places like South Antrim and elsewhere. In terms of what people

:26:14. > :26:19.were voting for, we were out talking to people a lot after Arlene became

:26:20. > :26:22.First Minister. Me and her went around the country, we have a lot of

:26:23. > :26:30.meetings and discussed with people what were the concerns. It was clear

:26:31. > :26:33.that things like education, health, infrastructure, and... That is what

:26:34. > :26:38.Sinn Fein talked about as well, you both want ?1 billion for health and

:26:39. > :26:42.you want 50,000 jobs? I am not saying what we talk about is

:26:43. > :26:45.exclusive to us. But this is what people were talking about and we

:26:46. > :26:48.reflected that in an early publication of our plan for Northern

:26:49. > :26:52.Ireland. We went out there very, very early to say that we intended

:26:53. > :26:56.to be back in government, we wanted to lead that government, we wanted

:26:57. > :27:03.as many executive seats as possible around the table. People were

:27:04. > :27:07.pleading with us to take the economy brief, the education and agriculture

:27:08. > :27:12.brief. People were saying they wanted the DUP to be there, with the

:27:13. > :27:15.leadership of the executive, because we have proved we can deliver for

:27:16. > :27:19.people. That has now been reflected in the votes that are being cast by

:27:20. > :27:23.people across Northern Ireland. Can you see the confusion? In the one

:27:24. > :27:27.hand, you paint Sinn Fein as the bogeyman, Martin McGuinness in

:27:28. > :27:31.particular. You pay date scenario where it would be bad for Northern

:27:32. > :27:33.Ireland if Martin McGuinness was First Minister. On the other hand,

:27:34. > :27:38.you are clearly working hand in glove with Sinn Fein in government.

:27:39. > :27:41.You have made no secret that and you have said he will do it again. The

:27:42. > :27:47.whole thing about Arlene for First Minister was a sham fight? No, it

:27:48. > :27:51.wasn't. It is important who is the leader of Northern Ireland. Well,

:27:52. > :27:56.you say that, nobody seems to think that. People make the decision. With

:27:57. > :28:00.the resources that the BBC and the experts you employ, there will be a

:28:01. > :28:06.bit of research, as we have done, to ensure that the people's views are

:28:07. > :28:12.being reflected and that you will understand what people are voting

:28:13. > :28:17.for. We are clear with what they are voting for. People are voting

:28:18. > :28:19.positively for the DUP. It is a phenomenal achievement. In the

:28:20. > :28:25.knowledge you will be in partnership with Sinn Fein?

:28:26. > :28:30.David Cameron was in government with the Lib Dems, a lot of people said

:28:31. > :28:35.he would be in government with them afterwards. He fought a campaign on

:28:36. > :28:40.his own grounds. He went after the Lib Dems ruthlessly, and annihilated

:28:41. > :28:43.them in some places. He was quite open about going back into a

:28:44. > :28:46.coalition. We are saying that we want a definite vision for Northern

:28:47. > :28:52.Ireland, taking Northern Ireland forward as part of the United

:28:53. > :28:56.Kingdom. We are going to hear a lot less about Martin McGuinness being

:28:57. > :29:01.to bogeyman from now on, is that the point? Let me finish the point. We

:29:02. > :29:06.recognise there is no majority will government in Northern Ireland. We

:29:07. > :29:09.will work with others, but we have a very different vision for Northern

:29:10. > :29:13.Ireland going forward as part of the United Kingdom compared to Sinn

:29:14. > :29:18.Fein. Do you think the whole thing was a sham fight? All about getting

:29:19. > :29:26.the vote out? When we were around the doors, people were looking for a

:29:27. > :29:31.partnership to be on display. You are not knocking on the same doors?

:29:32. > :29:35.Of course, that goes without saying. The world and its mother knows,

:29:36. > :29:42.Nigel, Arlene, all of you here, the thousands of people listening to

:29:43. > :29:48.this, that the office means it is equal power, equal responsibility,

:29:49. > :29:52.and Arlene Foster cannot make a decision without getting approval of

:29:53. > :30:00.Martin McGuinness. That is the reality. It is symbolic... She says

:30:01. > :30:10.symbol as matters? She says symbol matters. We are saying if it ends up

:30:11. > :30:13.today, and it is still up in the air, reaching at the hand of

:30:14. > :30:18.friendship, we have said we will put on display the joint three of that

:30:19. > :30:24.office and we will have the term joint First Minister. Let's not

:30:25. > :30:28.forget what was said earlier at the last round of discussion. There will

:30:29. > :30:33.be a review of this, and a review of the ministerial code, of Irish

:30:34. > :30:41.language. In terms of the title of office will be under review.

:30:42. > :30:51.I have held the office of First Minister along are Sheamus McMallon.

:30:52. > :30:56.Legally it is a totally equal position. You can't send a letter

:30:57. > :31:01.from the department without both ministers signing the letter and the

:31:02. > :31:04.mistake was made in 2006 when the government, following St Andrew's

:31:05. > :31:10.did a side deal behind everybody's back to do this. It has turned the

:31:11. > :31:13.thing into a fight over a symbolic issue that has no relevance to the

:31:14. > :31:19.day to day running of government. I've been there. I was the only

:31:20. > :31:24.person at this table in that office. I may remind you I was the junior

:31:25. > :31:28.minister. Still in the office. But I can tell you that is the way

:31:29. > :31:35.it works. If anybody is trying to tell you of a legal or other... We

:31:36. > :31:42.have to move on. Does it matter a jot now that the elections are upon

:31:43. > :31:46.us? That is the point? ALL SPEAK AT ONCE

:31:47. > :31:51.You are getting excuses in there. That is all that it is.

:31:52. > :31:55.You have to move on and deliver. To play the game according to the rules

:31:56. > :32:03.in place at this. Those are the rules. Bear with me. I have to Koch

:32:04. > :32:11.up with the count centres, where interesting things are happening.

:32:12. > :32:16.Julian Fowler is in West Tyrone. They have broken up all of the

:32:17. > :32:21.bundles to start counting again. A full re-count of the first

:32:22. > :32:27.preference votes is under way. We are told that there are 36 ballot

:32:28. > :32:34.papers unaccounted for. So they are going through them all again to find

:32:35. > :32:42.them. So some way off a vote. In Fermanagh South Tyrone, Arlene

:32:43. > :32:49.Foster elected, her excess is being redistributed. Her running mate also

:32:50. > :32:53.to cross the line fairly shortly. In Ballymena we have had the first

:32:54. > :32:58.reference results for the North Antrim county. Tight. Four

:32:59. > :33:02.candidates pulling about 150 votes of each other pull through. The DUP

:33:03. > :33:13.the highest number of first preference votes. Followed by Jim

:33:14. > :33:18.alster of the TUV. And then the other two. Those four expected to

:33:19. > :33:30.push on. An interesting battle for the last two seats. Robin Swan, a

:33:31. > :33:37.setting MLA. And David McIlveen. All sitting between 3,000 and 3,500

:33:38. > :33:43.votes. And Katherine Johnson has been eliminated with over 240 votes.

:33:44. > :33:53.Her votes are being redistributed along with the candidate from the

:33:54. > :33:59.Conservatives. We should get the next round in pretty soon.

:34:00. > :34:04.I'm in Bangor. So far three elected. An Ulster

:34:05. > :34:09.Unionist and a DUP elected in Strangford and a DUP in north down.

:34:10. > :34:14.The only excitement that may transpire is that we have three

:34:15. > :34:19.eliminations. Sinn Fein, an independent and a Conservative. They

:34:20. > :34:23.are watching carefully to see if Joe boil could become the first

:34:24. > :34:28.nationalist MLA in the area. He tells me he has been trying for 15

:34:29. > :34:34.years. Each time coming closer to the wire. He will not get a quota in

:34:35. > :34:42.his own right but he may be the last man standing and hope to get in that

:34:43. > :34:46.way. In North Down, Alex eastan. He topped the poll massively. Higher

:34:47. > :34:55.than last year when he topped the poll. He is emotional. It will be

:34:56. > :34:59.the status quo. As we are expecting three DUP, one Alliance and Steven a

:35:00. > :35:03.Agnew who polled well who was thought to be vulnerable. But it

:35:04. > :35:11.looks as though he is doing very well.

:35:12. > :35:15.No declaration here in Banbridge. The information is based on tallies.

:35:16. > :35:22.But we think it will be reflected when we get the declaration. In

:35:23. > :35:28.Newry and Armagh. It is said that William Irwin has topped the poll.

:35:29. > :35:36.Danny Kennedy has topped the poll, he has a running meat. And these are

:35:37. > :35:41.based on Sinn Fein tallies, Megan fearan and Cathal O'Hoisin are over

:35:42. > :35:48.the line. And hopefully over the line. Connor Murphy is under, so the

:35:49. > :35:53.likelihood is that Sinn Fein will retain the three seats that they

:35:54. > :36:02.were after. And that is in Newry Armagh. Then the two SDLP

:36:03. > :36:08.candidates? As I was saying earlier, it looks as if Justin McNulty may be

:36:09. > :36:12.ahead in that particular race. Connor, thank you very much.

:36:13. > :36:17.Let's have a look at some of our graphics.

:36:18. > :36:21.They will illustrate the latest facts and figures for you. The state

:36:22. > :36:28.of the parties here. Let's see if we can any mate it

:36:29. > :36:30.tonne the big screen. My guests can take a look and chip

:36:31. > :36:54.in comments. The DUP with six... Let's look at Strangford... Mike

:36:55. > :37:01.Nesbitt. Michelle McIlveen there. Two out of six seats there.

:37:02. > :37:07.The turn out over 50%. There is the share in Strangford.

:37:08. > :37:13.The DUP is strong. This is the change on 2011. Let's

:37:14. > :37:22.move on to South Antrim. Where the Ulster Unionist were on the hunt of

:37:23. > :37:27.the bounce. Paul Girvan is home. This is the

:37:28. > :37:32.share in South Antrim. This is the change.

:37:33. > :37:38.That is where we stand at the moment. Let's talk to my guests here

:37:39. > :37:44.at the moment. We are hearing that David Ford is safe. Was that 7th? We

:37:45. > :37:48.were hearing he was 7th. I want to pick up on that. We don't have

:37:49. > :37:55.anyone from the Alliance Party. We were talking about that, Reg. Saying

:37:56. > :38:03.that David Ford in South Antrim has had a disappointing performance?

:38:04. > :38:10.3119 sitting in 7th place? I am surprised. He has been the Justice

:38:11. > :38:16.Minister for five years. He has had the second seat in the executive to

:38:17. > :38:20.work with. He is never off the television,

:38:21. > :38:24.never off the radio. I would have expected him to anybody a stronger

:38:25. > :38:31.position. But it is interesting that eve finance you move next door into

:38:32. > :38:37.Lagan Valley, they don't seem to have done so well there. Eve no-one

:38:38. > :38:45.East Belfast, they have two quotas, despite the fact that the main

:38:46. > :38:50.objective that Ford had admitted was to take the seat vacated by Peter

:38:51. > :38:56.Robinson that is not going to happen.

:38:57. > :39:03.Mid Ulster, three Sinn Fein and Patsy McGlone. What is happening

:39:04. > :39:08.with the DUP in Mid Ulster, Nigel Dodds? Why two candidates running

:39:09. > :39:12.where there is only one seat? That is a bad example of party

:39:13. > :39:17.management? Well, let me put it in context. Looking at seats like Newry

:39:18. > :39:24.Armagh, Foyle and South Down, where the DUP was said to have gone

:39:25. > :39:28.down, they were under pressure from other unionist, it is clear that in

:39:29. > :39:33.the seats we have gone up and reinforced our position.

:39:34. > :39:38.Let me put it in context it is not a simple answer that is why we have to

:39:39. > :39:42.analyse them and look at them in the broader context. Looking at the

:39:43. > :39:50.seats we had to look at them to ensure the best way for the votes to

:39:51. > :39:55.go up. With Mid Ulster we had to ensure there was an intensive

:39:56. > :40:00.canvass like never before. You didn't need two candidates to do

:40:01. > :40:06.that? There was party rivalry? If you want to answer the question,

:40:07. > :40:13.Mark, feel free. Why need me? What we are doing... You are avoiding an

:40:14. > :40:18.important aspect here? We are doing this successfully across the country

:40:19. > :40:22.to maximise the DUP vote. We have seen a rise in the seats that we

:40:23. > :40:28.concentrated on to get the seats. But you will net get a second person

:40:29. > :40:32.in Mid Ulster? Highly unlikely but the purpose was to improve the vote

:40:33. > :40:35.and to increase the number one preferences there. We have succeeded

:40:36. > :40:43.in doing that. I am looking at your colleague, Mr

:40:44. > :40:54.Storey there in North Antrim. And pulling up the figures for North

:40:55. > :40:58.Antrim. How did Mirvan do? He do OK in third position. Do you think you

:40:59. > :41:04.will secure that? Three there will you? Yes, in Northampton? Definitely

:41:05. > :41:10.three. What is interesting this about this, we are in contention for

:41:11. > :41:14.the fourth seat there. It is not by any people means impossible to take

:41:15. > :41:20.four. Phillip Logan is a new candidate. An impressive young man.

:41:21. > :41:27.He fought a fantastic campaign. We are in the hunt for the fourth seat

:41:28. > :41:30.but we may not take it. But for the seats, as in Strangford, wherever

:41:31. > :41:36.possible we should be looking to increase. Looking to contest seats.

:41:37. > :41:40.Too often parties sit back and safeguard what they have. Other

:41:41. > :41:43.parties have shown that when you do try to extend yourself and reach out

:41:44. > :41:50.you can be successful. OK.

:41:51. > :41:54.Just to speak to Clare Hannah about Strangford, you have had some not

:41:55. > :41:58.great news in certain constituencies but in Strangford, there has never

:41:59. > :42:06.been a nationalist MLA. It looks very much as if Joe boil could pick

:42:07. > :42:10.up the 6th seat? Yes it could and the SDLP is in the hunt for

:42:11. > :42:15.Fermanagh South Tyrone and South Antrim. I hope so. I ran in that

:42:16. > :42:20.constituency myself in 2010. We have been close to getting it. I hope

:42:21. > :42:29.that Joe does do it. It put in a lot of energy. And this is the most

:42:30. > :42:33.energy gettic campaign in the SDLP. Rome was not built in a day but

:42:34. > :42:37.putting a score in Strangford is possible. And we are happy to see

:42:38. > :42:43.it. Martina, you are also there with

:42:44. > :42:46.your little tablet here, you are getting all kinds of messages from

:42:47. > :42:50.party workers. What are you hearing at the moment about what might be

:42:51. > :42:54.about to break as far as Sinn Fein is concerned? Any positive

:42:55. > :43:00.developments that your attention is drawn to that we may not be hearing?

:43:01. > :43:08.Or other disasters you may want to share with us. Any disappointments?

:43:09. > :43:18.No. No. No. Nothing like that. The four candidates in south Tyrone have

:43:19. > :43:27.polled well. Michelle guild knew getting 6,000-odd.

:43:28. > :43:34.You have overreached yourself in Fermanagh South Tyrone? Well, you

:43:35. > :43:44.have to overstretch yourself. Michelle got 6614. We have 4704,

:43:45. > :43:47.3002. They are all healthy first reference votes.

:43:48. > :43:51.That came about through default. That was not your choice to run four

:43:52. > :43:57.candidates. Well... It took three attempts? We

:43:58. > :44:02.are a democratic party. That is what we do in terms of selection. I think

:44:03. > :44:09.it was right to take the time and put the effort in that we did to get

:44:10. > :44:16.Michelle on to the ticket. She has polled over 6500,000. I think that

:44:17. > :44:24.the people in the constituency and her on party colleague... 6500. And

:44:25. > :44:29.then looking at Megan Fearon in Newry Armagh there are reports

:44:30. > :44:32.coming in there of her polling very well, maybe reaching the quota. So

:44:33. > :44:39.at this moment in time, there is no bad news to report.

:44:40. > :44:42.Nigel Dodds, that was your phone. Do you have bad news to report? No. No.

:44:43. > :44:56.That's the good news. Let's hear from Jim Allister, the

:44:57. > :45:04.TUV leader at his counter. I am just looking at the numbers as far as

:45:05. > :45:10.North Antrim is concerned. Nobody has actually been elected as yet,

:45:11. > :45:16.but you are in second position, 4399, a little bit behind the DUP's

:45:17. > :45:22.Paul Frew. The question is if you can bring your running mate with

:45:23. > :45:31.you? I think you will find its 5399. Did I say 4000? I have about 400

:45:32. > :45:34.short of the quota. Yes, 30 votes behind the person that topped the

:45:35. > :45:41.poll. Gratified that my own personal vote has gone up. Timothy Gaston, my

:45:42. > :45:47.running mate, has polled almost 2000. Sadly, it is unlikely to be

:45:48. > :45:51.enough to bring him in with me. I anticipate no change, I think it

:45:52. > :45:57.will be as we were in terms of the previous make-up. I am disappointed

:45:58. > :46:02.that we haven't grown it to the point where we would have two,

:46:03. > :46:08.although it is ups substantially from 11% to 18%. There is little

:46:09. > :46:12.chance of him winning a seat, as you say. What about elsewhere? You have

:46:13. > :46:16.said you don't want to be seen as a one-man band, you need to make a

:46:17. > :46:20.breakthrough in the selection. People have talked about prospects

:46:21. > :46:23.in East Antrim, East Londonderry, perhaps South Down does not look

:46:24. > :46:27.like it will happen for Henry Reilly. Are we going to get the

:46:28. > :46:33.breakthrough, or are you going to continue to be a lone voice in the

:46:34. > :46:37.naughty corner? While not conceal the fact that I am disappointed.

:46:38. > :46:42.Henry Reilly has spoken very well in South Down, but it will not be

:46:43. > :46:45.enough to bring him in. I'm disappointed we have not seen the

:46:46. > :46:53.growth I would wish for. You know, one has to respect the views of the

:46:54. > :46:59.electorate, they have an election before them in a concept of

:47:00. > :47:06.deception, the DUP were running a deceptive campaign, saying, vote DUP

:47:07. > :47:10.to stops Sinn Fein... Nigel Dodds is saying sour grapes. You got one, you

:47:11. > :47:15.are not likely to get any more and the DUP seems to be doing well?

:47:16. > :47:18.Maybe let me finish this sentence and give me that respect. The point

:47:19. > :47:22.I am making is that a deceptive campaign was run by the DUP that

:47:23. > :47:30.says vote DUP, keep Sinn Fein out, they never finished the sentence,

:47:31. > :47:33.which was, then we will bring them in. Martin McGuinness will be

:47:34. > :47:39.restored as joint First Minister, exercising the powers he would have

:47:40. > :47:43.exercised no matter who is called First Minister. But that is

:47:44. > :47:47.democracy, the will of the people? I accept that, but we should be

:47:48. > :47:50.careful talking about democracy in Northern Ireland, when the people

:47:51. > :47:53.are not allowed to vote a party out of government and are not allowed to

:47:54. > :47:57.change their government. I accept that people have voted as they have

:47:58. > :48:02.voted, but they have also returned me to Stormont, that means they want

:48:03. > :48:05.a continuance of the effective, authentic voice of opposition that

:48:06. > :48:13.TUV provides. Maybe now there is more need than ever for that, given

:48:14. > :48:17.the cabal of DUP and Sinn Fein will rule even stronger. I would say to

:48:18. > :48:21.the other parties... We have just heard Henry Reilly has been

:48:22. > :48:27.eliminated in South Down, definitely out of the hunt. Would you like to

:48:28. > :48:29.be joined by others in the opposition voice? You are not going

:48:30. > :48:33.to have enough to be in a formal opposition, would you like to see

:48:34. > :48:38.one at Stormont? I was just about to say that I think other parties like

:48:39. > :48:43.the SDLP and the Ulster Unionists are now in this situation going to

:48:44. > :48:47.be treated even more as doormats by the Sinn Fein and DUP coalition.

:48:48. > :48:51.Therefore, for the sake of their own dignity, there would be far better

:48:52. > :48:57.forming a proper, effective opposition and mounting a challenge

:48:58. > :49:01.to the DUP and Sinn Fein cabal. I hope they do that, or they will be

:49:02. > :49:04.more and more the doormats of this executive. I don't think that is

:49:05. > :49:09.good for anybody or democracy. Thank you very much. We will talk to you

:49:10. > :49:16.later this evening or perhaps tomorrow. There were some very nasty

:49:17. > :49:21.and better things said thereabout fellow unionists by Jim. I have in

:49:22. > :49:27.front of me... You accused him of sour grapes? Sour grapes is a mild

:49:28. > :49:34.term compared to words like cabal and that nasty talk. It is not a

:49:35. > :49:40.pejorative word, is it? I have a clipping from Jim Allister, if I

:49:41. > :49:48.return to Stormont, if the TV doesn't win any extra seats, that

:49:49. > :49:56.would be failure in capital letters. -- TUV. Any seats or extra seats?

:49:57. > :50:01.Extra seats. Coming back as a sole TUV would be acceptable? No, success

:50:02. > :50:05.would be more than one. He admitted he was bitterly disappointed. You

:50:06. > :50:10.gave him a good run, he attacked us, so let me say the point. It is

:50:11. > :50:15.failure in his own terms. He has run a campaign which he is now

:50:16. > :50:17.campaigning in the 5000 people that voted for the TUV are wonderful

:50:18. > :50:22.people that know exactly what is going on. Some of your candidates

:50:23. > :50:27.might be getting the sixth seat on TUV transfers? You need to make me

:50:28. > :50:31.finish the point, please. Do you not accept that? There will be many

:50:32. > :50:38.transfers from people. It is up to the people that decide. I don't know

:50:39. > :50:45.what the relevance of that point is. You are attacking the TUV. Some of

:50:46. > :50:49.them might also backed the DUP? I'm trying to respond to the attack by

:50:50. > :50:53.Jim. If you allow me to finish the point, I am making the point that

:50:54. > :50:59.Jim, please let me finish the point, Jim has said that people that voted

:51:00. > :51:03.for him are to be credited and all of the rest of it. But everybody

:51:04. > :51:07.else that voted for the DUP or anybody else that votes to maintain

:51:08. > :51:11.Stormont, they are all being deceived, an attack on the

:51:12. > :51:17.electorate, an attack on people exercising their democratic vote. To

:51:18. > :51:29.go down the road of attacking voters is a very sad day indeed for Jim. He

:51:30. > :51:33.is a failure by his own admission. I don't imagine you are terribly

:51:34. > :51:39.surprised by what he said. In interest of balance, let's have

:51:40. > :51:46.both. Doormats, he has used that phrase before. We will discuss with

:51:47. > :51:50.the other parties in the two weeks that we will have, whether or not we

:51:51. > :51:55.go into government and then we will make a decision. We will come back

:51:56. > :52:00.and he's that out a bit more in due course. I just want to go back to

:52:01. > :52:06.Tara in the exhibition centre. Getting tetchy in the studio. You

:52:07. > :52:12.haven't actually be elected yet, but you are 13 votes off the mark. Do

:52:13. > :52:20.you appeal to wider than the traditional Sinn Fein vote? The main

:52:21. > :52:26.thing is to congratulate Mr Alistair, we are looking for 13

:52:27. > :52:31.votes, hopefully we will find them. The Sinn Fein vote in south Belfast

:52:32. > :52:34.is up 2%. It is the highest ever percentage of the votes that Sinn

:52:35. > :52:38.Fein has taken in south Belfast. I think it is about building a rainbow

:52:39. > :52:42.coalition, not just those that are traditional Republicans and

:52:43. > :52:45.nationalists, but those that represent the gay community, the

:52:46. > :52:49.Irish community, that want to move Belfast to a brighter and better

:52:50. > :53:02.place. As far as I am concerned, my proposition to all of those people

:53:03. > :53:04.was, together, together we can build a shared future and shared society.

:53:05. > :53:07.I think that was rewarded in the size of the voting. Things are

:53:08. > :53:09.shaking up a little bit in South Belfast and that is good for

:53:10. > :53:12.everybody. Belfast needs shaking up. The Assembly needs to have more

:53:13. > :53:17.change and I hope the election leads to that. You predict a fresh start,

:53:18. > :53:22.in what way? First of all, there is going to be a lot of young people

:53:23. > :53:26.that have been returned to the Assembly, new parties. I do believe

:53:27. > :53:30.those parties that committed, and we all did, they accept that what has

:53:31. > :53:35.happened until now is not good enough. As you work is not good

:53:36. > :53:39.enough. The fresh start really needs to mean an urgent stepping up of the

:53:40. > :53:43.pace of the work of reconciliation and job creation. It all comes down

:53:44. > :53:47.to jobs. It really means is partnering each other to deliver

:53:48. > :53:51.that, as Arlene Foster said, a greater premium on consensus than on

:53:52. > :53:56.conflict. I believe that and will act accordingly. We hear that time

:53:57. > :53:59.and time again, then it seems to be a bunfight between Sinn Fein and the

:54:00. > :54:06.DUP that comes up about what is going to be agreed and not agreed? I

:54:07. > :54:09.think people need to reflect on signing up to the agreement, Sinn

:54:10. > :54:13.Fein and I believe the DUP are committed to that, I hope the other

:54:14. > :54:17.parties are as well. What we heard on the doorstep, for me, getting the

:54:18. > :54:20.biggest ever vote for Sinn Fein in East Belfast, that is for people

:54:21. > :54:25.like the gay couple that are not able to get married because of the

:54:26. > :54:29.antiquated laws, Sheila Leire Landa hand, a young Irish speaker whose

:54:30. > :54:35.language is treated like a non-language. It is for the Roma

:54:36. > :54:39.community, Muslims and Romanians, sometimes treated as second-class

:54:40. > :54:43.citizens. The message is, get your act together, step up the pace of

:54:44. > :54:48.change. When you hear it from me, it is my commitment and my pledge. You

:54:49. > :54:51.did not mention the pro-choice or pro-life argument, do you think that

:54:52. > :55:01.is where your party is behind the curve? I don't think so. When you

:55:02. > :55:05.reflect on the fact that a priest spoke in a language that was

:55:06. > :55:08.ill-advised to one of my female canvassers, I think the church has

:55:09. > :55:13.to realise they cannot preach to politicians. I only received two

:55:14. > :55:17.e-mails in my entire Assembly career from the Palace of the bishop, both

:55:18. > :55:22.were about moral issues, social issues, gay marriage, the crucial

:55:23. > :55:26.issue of abortion. What I would say to those that try to push back on

:55:27. > :55:29.this issue is let's have a compassionate approach to gay

:55:30. > :55:33.marriage and to the issue of abortion. In cases of sexual crime,

:55:34. > :55:36.Sinn Fein are saying that those women that have been subject to

:55:37. > :55:50.sexual crime and wish to have an abortion should have that choice, in

:55:51. > :56:02.his beetle Abner Mark -- in faetal as well -- foetus abnormality as

:56:03. > :56:06.well. I think this is a good position and one that we will

:56:07. > :56:14.defend. The constituency is changing. I think we can see

:56:15. > :56:23.pictures of Anna Lo. What do you think is the difference, if somebody

:56:24. > :56:27.is elected, bringing a Green Party member into the Assembly, what

:56:28. > :56:34.difference will it make? For people like myself who want a rainbow

:56:35. > :56:37.coalition, there are not enough people of colour, not enough gay

:56:38. > :56:46.people and not enough women. Anybody that wants to sign up for radical

:56:47. > :56:49.change, how we approach constituents and respect the people that make up

:56:50. > :56:53.the electorate, I am with them on that. These are fresh, strong

:56:54. > :57:00.voices. There are fresh voices for Sinn Fein as well. I know my

:57:01. > :57:03.colleagues in Mid Ulster were returned. Let's see what the new

:57:04. > :57:07.Stormont looks like. Let's sign up for not just a fresh start in

:57:08. > :57:15.rhetoric, but in action. Thank you very much indeed, I am sure you will

:57:16. > :57:21.be elected if there is only 30 votes in it.

:57:22. > :57:29.Interesting to hear what Mairtin O Muilleoir had to say. Let's have a

:57:30. > :57:36.word with my guests around the table. We have not heard from Claire

:57:37. > :57:43.for a moment or two. Let's talk about South Belfast. Not returned

:57:44. > :57:47.just yet. We do not have a formal declaration as far south Belfast is

:57:48. > :57:51.concerned. I wanted to talk about Clare Bailey, the other Claire in

:57:52. > :57:54.the race, and we have seen a mixed bag as far as the smaller parties

:57:55. > :57:59.are concerned, is doing quite well. Steven Agnew did well in North Down.

:58:00. > :58:03.Jim Allister did well, John McCallister is out, Claire Sugden

:58:04. > :58:09.seems to be doing well. What do you read into the fact that we could

:58:10. > :58:12.potentially have been looking at two greens in Stormont? I'm very

:58:13. > :58:16.disappointed about John McCallister. I think anybody that has worked with

:58:17. > :58:20.him will say he will be a big loss to the Assembly as a whole. He is a

:58:21. > :58:23.forward-thinking guy that works well with people. I think that is

:58:24. > :58:30.disappointing for him. It has been a good day for the Greens. I

:58:31. > :58:35.anticipated both Steven Agnew and Clare Bailey polling well. I knew

:58:36. > :58:39.from being in the trenches that they ran an excellent campaign. It is

:58:40. > :58:49.probably, not to do them down, probably a similar factor as has

:58:50. > :58:52.seen Gerry Carroll collected in west Belfast, and Aidan McCann polling

:58:53. > :58:56.well. People are dissatisfied with business as usual politics. It is

:58:57. > :59:00.similar to the Jeremy Corbyn effect, the Bernie Sanders effect. It is

:59:01. > :59:04.probably a plague on all of your houses, all the more established

:59:05. > :59:07.parties. That is not to diminish the candidates and the fact they might

:59:08. > :59:12.have addressed issues the other parties were not talking about.

:59:13. > :59:15.South Belfast has always been a very diverse, youthful electorate and has

:59:16. > :59:20.always come over the years, thrown up interesting results. It elected

:59:21. > :59:24.the Women's Coalition in two elections as well, there has always

:59:25. > :59:33.been a semi-independent vote. Some pictures from Bali -- a la Nina. One

:59:34. > :59:40.of the DUP candidates, the finance minister most recently. Ian Paisley

:59:41. > :59:49.Jr, the MP for North Antrim. Doing some number crunching. The other

:59:50. > :59:54.thing, you are not in Stormont any more, but we have the possibility of

:59:55. > :00:02.People Before Profit, Gerry Carroll, maybe Eamon McCann, maybe Doctor

:00:03. > :00:05.Anne McCloskey as well. What kind of impact you think those voices will

:00:06. > :00:12.have on day-to-day business in Stormont? I think there will have

:00:13. > :00:19.more in common with people before profit than the SDLP. Gerry Carroll

:00:20. > :00:23.has possibly caused you to lose the seat? We took five of the six seats

:00:24. > :00:27.in West Belfast. Everybody at that time told me it was going to be

:00:28. > :00:34.impossible to take them. We knew it was going to be a big ask. But fair

:00:35. > :00:41.play to Gerry, he has topped the poll and I congratulate him. We have

:00:42. > :00:45.over 20,000 votes in West Belfast. That is remarkable by anyone's

:00:46. > :00:50.standards. But I would say that, if it works out as you have outlined,

:00:51. > :00:54.that we would work very hard with People Before Profit in that, for

:00:55. > :00:59.instance, things that came before the Assembly in the past like

:01:00. > :01:04.marriage equality, I think we would not see... But they are so critical

:01:05. > :01:08.Sinn Fein, a lot of people regard the rise of People Before Profit as

:01:09. > :01:12.a protest vote against Sinn Fein? In places like Foyle and west Belfast?

:01:13. > :01:21.We are all critical of each other. If not, we would all be in the one

:01:22. > :01:26.party. We do have different ideaologies. Different position but

:01:27. > :01:35.there is common ground as well. You know very well that Gerry

:01:36. > :01:38.Carroll and others were tapping into a disenchantment into

:01:39. > :01:41.socio-economically deprived parts of Northern Ireland as people believed

:01:42. > :01:46.Sinn Fein ruled over on welfare reform. That is how they have done

:01:47. > :01:52.so well. How do you regard them as better allies than the SDLP? If you

:01:53. > :01:57.let me finish, without your assessment of it, as that is the

:01:58. > :02:02.only view... That is a view. He was tapping into disenchantment

:02:03. > :02:08.across the board. We are dealing with a situation in West Belfast, it

:02:09. > :02:12.was said earlier, it may be the SDLP that loose a seat, we may lose a

:02:13. > :02:17.seat. Everyone is in there for the taking. But that said, I'm only

:02:18. > :02:21.trying to respond to you. There is a lot of issues that we have common

:02:22. > :02:25.ground on. We work closely with People Before Profit in the 26

:02:26. > :02:31.counties. I believed we have worked closely with them on social economic

:02:32. > :02:36.issues and that will be built upon if it is the situation where one or

:02:37. > :02:42.more of them are elected and find themselves in the Assembly.

:02:43. > :02:46.How do you regard that, that People Before Profit are comfortable bed

:02:47. > :02:53.fellows? Ironically, they are very much. Singing from the same himself

:02:54. > :02:56.sheet down south where it is against everything and diagnosing the

:02:57. > :03:00.problem in the south it is oppositional. It is almost neither

:03:01. > :03:04.here nor there. We are still counting. But the fact that Sinn

:03:05. > :03:11.Fein wouldn't dream, would not go near government... That is what we

:03:12. > :03:16.said... Sure... We told them that, stood over that, stood on the record

:03:17. > :03:24.north and south. Said we would go to government in the north. We will be.

:03:25. > :03:33.We won't be propping up feigna fall and feigna gale in the south... They

:03:34. > :03:37.are saying similar things down south it is, I believe, diagnosing the

:03:38. > :03:44.problem, rather than suggesting solutions. Alex Attwood is

:03:45. > :03:49.struggling on counts. Alex at wood does seriously detailed work. He

:03:50. > :03:53.more or less single handedly reformed the police force. He does

:03:54. > :03:59.detailed work on victims. That does not always fit in a tweet or a

:04:00. > :04:05.placard but he does serious work. Hopefully that is remembered by

:04:06. > :04:08.people going down the ballot. Let's press the pause but the on to

:04:09. > :04:15.hear from our reporters on the ground. Let's hear from Will Leech

:04:16. > :04:31.from Newton Abbey. What is happening? We have two MLAs

:04:32. > :04:39.elected. Four candidates eliminated. Hilditch and then the Laura particle

:04:40. > :04:45.Ewing has gone, all eyes are turning to the Alliance. This is a seat

:04:46. > :04:53.where Mr Ford has come through. In perhaps the 4th or the 5 count. So

:04:54. > :05:00.he is sitting about 1300 seats under the quota. It would abfoolish person

:05:01. > :05:04.to write him off. He knows his sums. He is telling us how he is going to

:05:05. > :05:10.do in. That is who people are talking about. That is who they are

:05:11. > :05:16.watching. Lots more drama to come from Newtownabbey.

:05:17. > :05:20.Here at the Foyle Arena the count is continuing for Foyle and East

:05:21. > :05:26.Londonderry. The story of the day is Eamon McCann. A very impressive

:05:27. > :05:34.first preference. He is continuing to get transfers. The independent

:05:35. > :05:38.doctor, Anne McClusky doing well. Could Eamon McCann be elected? He

:05:39. > :05:46.has been trying for 15 years it could be the case that McCann is the

:05:47. > :05:51.Man. A slogan he has used. The money is on the 73-year-old taking a seat

:05:52. > :05:55.in Stormont for a first time. A high-profile campaigner on lots of

:05:56. > :06:02.issues, jobs, investment in the north-west. Upgrading of the rails.

:06:03. > :06:06.So will he be elected? A lot of the political parties predicting he may

:06:07. > :06:11.well do. It is still early days, we will have to see how it pans out.

:06:12. > :06:16.But looking good for Eamon McCann as we stand at the moment.

:06:17. > :06:21.In Lagan Valley, the DUP a little bit of a sweat on. Going into the

:06:22. > :06:25.election, this being one of their strongholds with four seats. But

:06:26. > :06:30.many are now openly talking about them only retaining three seats with

:06:31. > :06:34.Jonathan Craig, perhaps to be missing out. If he does, it

:06:35. > :06:39.represents a gain for the Ulster Unionist. They are looking to take

:06:40. > :06:44.basil McRae's seats but a seat from the DUP. It must be stressed no-one

:06:45. > :06:51.has crossed the line in Lagan Valley. Paul Given of the DUP topped

:06:52. > :06:56.the poll after the first round of preference votes. No-one has quota.

:06:57. > :07:02.No-one is deemed elected in South Down. The other count going on in

:07:03. > :07:08.Lisbon. Most likely, we are looking at two S is S and two Sinn Fein. Jim

:07:09. > :07:13.Wells polled well after a poor Westminster showing. Looking like he

:07:14. > :07:18.will be elected so the 6th seat going to another unionist. We know

:07:19. > :07:23.that John McAllister has been eliminated, he was an independent.

:07:24. > :07:28.Many are talking about that going to the Ulster Unionist, Harold McKee.

:07:29. > :07:33.Thank you very much. Julian O'Neill there and good to get

:07:34. > :07:40.a round up. Hoping to speak to David Ford in the

:07:41. > :07:45.not too distant future. And in the meantime, I'm not sure if you have

:07:46. > :07:48.picked up bits and pieces and facts as we have been talking? We were

:07:49. > :07:51.having the general discussion about the shape of the government here,

:07:52. > :07:55.what it looks like after the election.

:07:56. > :08:00.No huge surprise, I don't think? Well, the fact is that it will be

:08:01. > :08:05.who is in it, basically. Will the Ulster Unionist be in it,

:08:06. > :08:11.Reg? We have made it clear. To fresh a change in the law five years ago

:08:12. > :08:15.which happened. Whereby, instead of the first and deputy first ministers

:08:16. > :08:19.identified in a week. There is a fortnight in which the parties can

:08:20. > :08:23.sit and decide whether or not they could agree on a programme for

:08:24. > :08:27.government. I think that is a sensible way to do things. The

:08:28. > :08:32.previous arrangements were you went straight in, you were in the seal

:08:33. > :08:36.urics then the Executive drafted a programme for government, about 100

:08:37. > :08:42.pages. I think it is more sensible to do it quickly, in a fortnight.

:08:43. > :08:46.See if you can get agreement. See if you can satisfy yourself that

:08:47. > :08:52.everybody is prepared to implement. If one is not satisfied with it, it

:08:53. > :08:55.is legitimate, at least now there is an opposition to go into, should

:08:56. > :09:01.that be the decision of a party, to be entitled to a seat. Given the

:09:02. > :09:04.fact that a problem here is the underperformance, sadly, of

:09:05. > :09:07.Stormont, when we have our own government with powers and

:09:08. > :09:11.everything at their disposal, we are still not hitting the right note in

:09:12. > :09:15.a lot of the policy areas like health and the economy. I think if

:09:16. > :09:19.we can get people focussed on those things. Elections come and go but

:09:20. > :09:32.the government must continue. We have seen a shot of Jonathan Bell

:09:33. > :09:37.in fifth position and Nigel Dodd comfortably the third DUP, it looks

:09:38. > :09:45.like it in Strangford. Can I ask you picking up on what Reg was talking

:09:46. > :09:50.about, would you be happier with a five-party coalition or relaxed to

:09:51. > :09:54.have for example, the Ulster Unionist, the SDLP and possibly the

:09:55. > :09:58.Alliance Party in a formal opposition? If you could choose,

:09:59. > :10:04.which would you choose? Well it is not my choice. That is the point.

:10:05. > :10:08.No but let's pretend. I am curious what you would think.

:10:09. > :10:13.It is their choice. But obviously people put themselves forward for

:10:14. > :10:17.election. They decide not to take part in government, even though they

:10:18. > :10:21.could do that, you know, that is their decision. The electorate will

:10:22. > :10:25.judge them on it. I think we should try as much as possible to have

:10:26. > :10:30.people working together. We have been in the executive for six months

:10:31. > :10:34.without the Ulster Unionist there. The people have spoken strongly.

:10:35. > :10:39.They see a relevance. I think that people going into the next three

:10:40. > :10:42.years with no elections, it is up for the party to decide. I am easy.

:10:43. > :10:46.I think we should work together as much as possible. But if people

:10:47. > :10:51.don't want to do it, that is up to themselves. In terms of the election

:10:52. > :10:54.result, talking about Belfast, for instance. We were talking about

:10:55. > :10:59.south Belfast, I wanted to highlight, the DUP have put in a

:11:00. > :11:05.strong performance in south Belfast it looks as if, without jumping

:11:06. > :11:09.ahead too far but it looks as if Emma Little Pengelly and start ford

:11:10. > :11:13.could get elected and a good chance in West Belfast and then the push

:11:14. > :11:19.back against the Alliance Party in East Belfast. It is a remarkable

:11:20. > :11:24.achievement for the DUP with the return of Naomi Long, and Joanne

:11:25. > :11:30.Bunting, and for the party to have performed as well as it did. It has

:11:31. > :11:34.confounded the critics. And in north Belfast, to have done well to take

:11:35. > :11:39.three out of three seats. So in Belfast, we are very happy with how

:11:40. > :11:44.things have gone. In a city where previously we were told to be under

:11:45. > :11:51.pressure. Thank you. Interestingly, we are joined by the Alliance Party

:11:52. > :11:53.leader David Ford. He is at his count in Newtownabbey for South

:11:54. > :11:59.Antrim. Thank you very much for joining us. I wanted to pick up on

:12:00. > :12:04.what Nigel Dodds was talking about. Naomi Long is back. He think it is

:12:05. > :12:11.is a good performance by the DUP that Joanne Bunting topped the poll.

:12:12. > :12:14.Describing it as a push backagainst the Alliance Party in the East

:12:15. > :12:20.Belfast. Are you feeling that? When your own count you don't know what

:12:21. > :12:27.is happening everywhere else. Naomi Long was elected on stage one.

:12:28. > :12:33.Clearly an excellent result, given we were seeking avoiding but we are

:12:34. > :12:39.in contention in a number of places for gains. It seems that all ofs

:12:40. > :12:43.seats we had are safe. That is progress for the Alliance Party.

:12:44. > :12:48.You may be uncomfortable in south Belfast. It is not going perhaps as

:12:49. > :12:53.well as you had hoped. I don't know if you will get the three seats in

:12:54. > :13:00.East Belfast. What about yourself? You are in 7th position? You are

:13:01. > :13:05.behind the times. I am in 5th place. In 2003 irstarted off 900 votes

:13:06. > :13:14.behind somebody who claimed victory, at the end of stage 11 I beat him.

:13:15. > :13:18.Aam used to being around, picking up the transfers. I'm safely in

:13:19. > :13:22.position to take one of the seats in South Antrim for the fifth time. OK.

:13:23. > :13:29.I see that has moved on a bit. So you are fairly comfortable.

:13:30. > :13:33.Where are you uncomfortable, or were you uncomfortable, given the

:13:34. > :13:37.experience in 2003? It was expected? Some people think around the table

:13:38. > :13:44.you have a high-profile, that they thought you may have been further up

:13:45. > :13:48.there in terms of first preferences? As the Justice Minister you spend a

:13:49. > :13:52.lot of time in the Department of Justice and less time to be at

:13:53. > :13:57.community events in the constituency or on the doorsteps meeting people.

:13:58. > :14:01.There are difficulties with that. I believe I have done my job as the

:14:02. > :14:06.Justice Minister to the best of my abilities. Perhaps others have had

:14:07. > :14:11.more chance to be out and about in south Antrim. That is why I maybe

:14:12. > :14:16.did not do as well as expected but looking safe at the moment.

:14:17. > :14:22.Do you think that the Alliance Party will have enough M LAs to be

:14:23. > :14:27.entitled to a position in the executive? It is early I days to see

:14:28. > :14:30.the figure. It depends on the balance between the parties of the

:14:31. > :14:36.numbers. I suspect that we will not know the final numbers in some

:14:37. > :14:42.constituencies until tomorrow afternoon. So it is difficult to

:14:43. > :14:48.tell where we will be exactly to get into a discussion about this. Or

:14:49. > :14:51.looking back if we can agree the kind of programme that must be

:14:52. > :14:55.implemented for us to provide a Justice Minister. There is work to

:14:56. > :15:02.be done. We will see how the figures are.

:15:03. > :15:09.Just to get Nigel Dodds to respond. What do you think?

:15:10. > :15:16.Would an alliance be perfectly fine from a DUP point of view? We haven't

:15:17. > :15:19.discussed that at all. We will need to meet after the elections and

:15:20. > :15:25.discuss all of that, even our own choices, the orders, as you said, we

:15:26. > :15:28.have pressured to take a lot of departments ourselves, but we would

:15:29. > :15:36.not be as presumptuous as to start picking them, we need to see what

:15:37. > :15:41.the order of choices are. We would consider the Justice Department. You

:15:42. > :15:45.have not had meetings with representatives of the DUP over the

:15:46. > :15:50.last couple of weeks? I think there has been a certain amount of idle

:15:51. > :15:54.gossip. What you might describe as proper negotiations, no. What did

:15:55. > :15:57.happen in 2010, before I took the Justice Department, is that we had

:15:58. > :16:01.agreement from Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness around the

:16:02. > :16:04.programme that would be added to the programme for government to bring

:16:05. > :16:07.justice in do that. I believe that has proved to be a success. It was

:16:08. > :16:11.an agreement we got from those two parties that enabled me to do the

:16:12. > :16:22.job for the last six years. I think it is interesting that as an example

:16:23. > :16:24.of what will now be carried forward into the discussions next week and

:16:25. > :16:27.onwards, as we put together a complete programme for government. I

:16:28. > :16:29.think we set the Trail forgetting that joined up government in the

:16:30. > :16:36.first place. I want to bring in Martina Anderson. Would you be

:16:37. > :16:41.relaxed to see another alliance Justice Minister, or would you

:16:42. > :16:48.rather get your hands on that position yourself? To be honest, we

:16:49. > :16:51.have been lobbied almost by every sector, to take almost every

:16:52. > :16:55.department including justice. At this moment in time, what we want to

:16:56. > :17:00.do is look up the framework for the programme for government, and we

:17:01. > :17:05.haven't actually decided yet, because we are going to wait until

:17:06. > :17:08.after the elections, see how many seats we have and what that

:17:09. > :17:13.qualifies as for. I'm not going to commit the party one way or another,

:17:14. > :17:17.other than to say that we are before taking on whatever ministry is

:17:18. > :17:21.presented to us and we have been lobbied from a cross-section of

:17:22. > :17:26.people to take on almost every department. David Ford, he helps you

:17:27. > :17:30.out of a hole last time, he put his hand up and took on a difficult job,

:17:31. > :17:35.but he's not going to get any credit from Sinn Fein? Not at all, I

:17:36. > :17:42.acknowledge the fact at that time, that is what needed to happen. Fair

:17:43. > :17:47.play to Alliance for doing that. I acknowledge the fact that is where

:17:48. > :17:51.we found ourselves, to get policing and justice transferred. Let's not

:17:52. > :17:56.forget, society was told it would never, ever happen. And we did. The

:17:57. > :18:00.good thing is that it has happened, it has been transferred and now we

:18:01. > :18:04.need to see about how intense transformation we can take that

:18:05. > :18:07.forward. David Ford, fair play to you for putting your hand at last

:18:08. > :18:12.time around, says Martina Anderson. I think it is fair to characterise

:18:13. > :18:16.the response of the DUP and The Alliance Party as lukewarm,

:18:17. > :18:20.certainly not settled, that it is a given that The Alliance Party would

:18:21. > :18:25.be the first in line for the DOJ next time round. Does that

:18:26. > :18:29.disappoint you a little, even on a personal level? I would not expect

:18:30. > :18:32.people in other parties to say we are desperate to give the Alliance

:18:33. > :18:36.Party the job, particularly in an election interview at the time of

:18:37. > :18:40.the count. The important thing is to make sure there is a process for

:18:41. > :18:44.government agreed. If people feel that The Alliance Party is the right

:18:45. > :18:49.one to carry it forward, we would have serious discussions about it.

:18:50. > :18:52.We're not giving a commitment, six years ago we got agreement around

:18:53. > :18:56.the programme for the Justice Department. We have an agreement, in

:18:57. > :19:00.fairness to the DUP and Sinn Fein, has been delivered by them, when

:19:01. > :19:04.they signed up to what we suggested. That's the important thing to carry

:19:05. > :19:07.forward. It is called joined up government, parties working together

:19:08. > :19:10.for the good of Northern Ireland. We are keen to play a part in that. But

:19:11. > :19:16.we are not the people that will decide, finally, if such a job comes

:19:17. > :19:19.to alliance or not. You had eight seats last time around, he said you

:19:20. > :19:25.thought you could pick up another sex, what are the chances of you

:19:26. > :19:37.going back with 14? Are you still optimistic? -- pick up another six.

:19:38. > :19:42.We said we were looking at potential gains, a couple would get us into

:19:43. > :19:47.the lucky dip, and that would be a key issue. We may or may not get

:19:48. > :19:51.there. What we see is that we are in with a shout for two or three gains

:19:52. > :19:58.still, and we would have to see how that works out. Thanks, I am sure we

:19:59. > :20:03.will speak to you again in due course. Let's leave the panel for a

:20:04. > :20:08.moment or two and go back to Lisa McAlister at the Titanic Exhibition

:20:09. > :20:16.Centre in Belfast. In the last few minutes, Alex Maskey was elected as

:20:17. > :20:22.the second MLA for West Belfast. Didn't top the poll this time

:20:23. > :20:27.around. Was not a surprise? No, Sinn Fein topped the poll, it is known

:20:28. > :20:32.that we will have a number of elected MLAs in West Belfast. It is

:20:33. > :20:36.the first of a number of clues that will be elected through the day. I

:20:37. > :20:42.want to thank the people of West Belfast for honouring Sinn Fein and

:20:43. > :20:48.those that have been privileged to be put forward as candidates. Gerry

:20:49. > :20:53.Carroll from People Before Profit got over 8001st choice votes, that

:20:54. > :20:57.has to be a message to Sinn Fein? First, I want to congratulate him

:20:58. > :21:00.for winning the seat and congratulate all voters that voted

:21:01. > :21:03.for candidates in West Belfast. I will respect his mandate, as

:21:04. > :21:07.hopefully he will respect the Sinn Fein mandate, which will return a

:21:08. > :21:12.number of MLAs. Just remember, Sinn Fein continues to top the poll in

:21:13. > :21:24.West Belfast. It is not just about topping the poll, it is what you can

:21:25. > :21:26.do for the community. West Belfast is a tremendous community. Anybody

:21:27. > :21:28.elected for that community has an honour to be elected and a

:21:29. > :21:30.significant obligation to work for the community. I want to hear less

:21:31. > :21:33.people decrying West Belfast, knocking it down, telling all of the

:21:34. > :21:37.negative stories about West Belfast. It is a community that has defended

:21:38. > :21:41.itself over many decades of difficult circumstances. It is a

:21:42. > :21:45.community on the rise. Every sector in that community, the education,

:21:46. > :21:53.family, the Irish language community, the sporting fraternity,

:21:54. > :21:57.and I would have to single out the GLA, they are so involved with such

:21:58. > :22:01.energy and passion for the community. I want to see all

:22:02. > :22:05.representatives supporting those endeavours, not decrying them. There

:22:06. > :22:09.is a chance that Sinn Fein will not get the five MLA seats in West

:22:10. > :22:14.Belfast. That has to be a message from voters to your party? Remember,

:22:15. > :22:20.we were retained in a previous Assembly election with four MLAs. We

:22:21. > :22:24.came back with five. We still have the MP, we have several councillors,

:22:25. > :22:27.all of whom are working hard and delivering on the ground. That is

:22:28. > :22:31.why Sinn Fein continues to top the poll in West Belfast, because the

:22:32. > :22:35.Sinn Fein representatives and activists on the ground are working

:22:36. > :22:39.day in, day out for the community. That was paid back to us by the

:22:40. > :22:42.community. No person in West Belfast is a clone, no person is stupid.

:22:43. > :22:46.People in West Belfast are voting for the party they know is

:22:47. > :22:52.delivering for them and working with them on a daily basis. Not only in a

:22:53. > :22:55.socioeconomic issue, but on the journey towards Irish reunification.

:22:56. > :23:03.Sinn Fein, a Northern Ireland party that want Irish unity, independence,

:23:04. > :23:07.and work with people day in, day out. I'm proud to be part of the

:23:08. > :23:10.community in West Belfast and privileged to be a representative.

:23:11. > :23:14.Sinn Fein topping the poll in West Belfast will deliver for the people

:23:15. > :23:17.in West Belfast. I hope all of the representatives, and I congratulate

:23:18. > :23:22.all of them, I hope they have the same positive work ethic as Sinn

:23:23. > :23:27.Fein. OK, thank you for talking to us this afternoon. To recap, at the

:23:28. > :23:32.Titanic Exhibition Centre, we have two MLAs selected in East Belfast

:23:33. > :23:37.Joanne Bunting, Naomi Long, Jerry Kelly in north Belfast, as well as

:23:38. > :23:44.Alex Maskey, and we have heard from Gerry Carroll in West Belfast.

:23:45. > :23:48.We're hearing from Alex Maskey, he is pleased to be elected, we know

:23:49. > :23:54.Gerry Carroll is in. We don't know who is going to lose out. You think

:23:55. > :23:58.it might be the SDLP and Alex Attwood? Yes, he is sitting in

:23:59. > :24:06.second last place of the seven remaining candidates, with 3400

:24:07. > :24:10.votes and the quote is 5100. He has two thirds of a quote and that is

:24:11. > :24:15.not enough. The political guests were talking about the make-up of

:24:16. > :24:19.the executive. The SDLP is looking potentially at four losses, which

:24:20. > :24:22.would take them down to ten. That could put them out of contention for

:24:23. > :24:29.a ministerial seat? It is very close. It will it will depend on the

:24:30. > :24:33.DUP and Sinn Fein, if they can make 40, both of those are in the realm

:24:34. > :24:39.of possibility. That could be sufficient to push the SDLP out. We

:24:40. > :24:44.can still see Alliance, even if the Justice minister makes no gains?

:24:45. > :24:48.Possibly the SDLP out? That would be a turn-up for the books. I think in

:24:49. > :24:53.theory anything can happen, but I think we know what will. A

:24:54. > :24:58.constituency where the SDLP appears to be in trouble, East Londonderry,

:24:59. > :25:03.a tale of friends. The DUP's Gregory Campbell is not in the race, neither

:25:04. > :25:07.is John Dallat. We see the DUP topping the poll in terms of share.

:25:08. > :25:12.Despite the loss of Gregory Campbell, they more or less

:25:13. > :25:17.plateaued. The SDLP, the loss of John Dallat has hit them hard? One

:25:18. > :25:21.would almost think SDLP voters were shifting to Claire Sugden, the

:25:22. > :25:26.replacement of David McCourty, the former Ulster Unionist. If we see

:25:27. > :25:32.some of these stages, we can see Maurice Bradley, George Robinson, a

:25:33. > :25:40.strong position for the DUP. Caoimhe Archibald will be the new MLA for

:25:41. > :25:44.Sinn Fein. Claire Sugden, holding against the odds. Caral Ni Chuilin.

:25:45. > :25:51.Jerry Sugden just behind. We can't call it? I think we can, The

:25:52. > :25:59.Alliance Party transfers, I cannot see where the SDLP would get the

:26:00. > :26:03.votes to keep that seat. Claire Sugden is quite transfer friendly.

:26:04. > :26:07.She is getting 218 votes. Here is the swing we have just shown, with

:26:08. > :26:14.Sinn Fein making hay because of John Dallat retiring and Gerry Mullan in

:26:15. > :26:19.the race. A 3% swing. Let's cross to South Down. This was very newsworthy

:26:20. > :26:24.in the last election. Two MLAs each for the SDLP and Sinn Fein. It was

:26:25. > :26:29.an SDLP heartland. They are very close, the nationalist parties? I

:26:30. > :26:36.make it 160 votes between them, very tight. The change, SDLP losing out,

:26:37. > :26:41.Sinn Fein gaining. This is maybe deceptive, the TUV were not in the

:26:42. > :26:46.race last time so that is all down as a gain? It is up 1% from last

:26:47. > :26:51.time. We look at some of the names in the fray. This was the

:26:52. > :26:59.constituency where John McCallister lost out.

:27:00. > :27:07.Jim Wells held up very well. He didn't have half of the dramas he

:27:08. > :27:11.had last year. He is complaining to me on Twitter that he has a bit of a

:27:12. > :27:14.difficulty in the electoral count centre, his disabled wife has not

:27:15. > :27:19.been allowed in and he is very angry about that. While Sinn Fein is

:27:20. > :27:23.ahead, we think that Harold McKee is going to come through with those

:27:24. > :27:26.various Unionists? It has been a seat, in a good year for

:27:27. > :27:30.nationalists, there should be a gain for unionists in this seat and it is

:27:31. > :27:35.not happening. There are enough unionist votes there. Look at John

:27:36. > :27:40.McCallister, we must count him as likely to return to his former

:27:41. > :27:45.party. Harold McKee must overtake them. The Ulster Unionists in South

:27:46. > :27:51.Down. We will win through a few extra. You can see Harold McKee

:27:52. > :27:56.getting transfers. 331, he gets. They are regaining the seat they

:27:57. > :28:00.lost because of John McCallister's defection? The Ulster Unionists have

:28:01. > :28:08.picked up both of the defection gains, that seems probable, from

:28:09. > :28:11.NI21. I think the jury is out in Strangford and Lagan Valley. They

:28:12. > :28:15.have not regained East Londonderry. Back to you, Mark.

:28:16. > :28:23.Thank you very much. We have replenished our panel and let me

:28:24. > :28:29.introduce them to you quickly, and then we will have a word with Ian

:28:30. > :28:34.Paisley Jr, who is up at his count with his colleagues in Ballymena.

:28:35. > :28:39.Nyla Donoghue from Sinn Fein has joined me. I don't know how to

:28:40. > :28:45.address you, councillor Senator, Senator counsellor? Either! You will

:28:46. > :28:53.have to give up that seat? That is my understanding. You haven't been

:28:54. > :29:00.down? I have was down last year, I need to keep an eye on the numbers.

:29:01. > :29:05.It is good to see all of you. Before we discuss some of the issue is

:29:06. > :29:10.unfolding, I want to talk to Ian Paisley, the MP for North Antrim, up

:29:11. > :29:18.there with his colleagues. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Can you

:29:19. > :29:23.hear me? You have come upon my screen. We saw some shots of you in

:29:24. > :29:28.detailed discussion, hushed discussion, it looked like, with

:29:29. > :29:32.conspiratorial, you and Mervyn Storey and a couple of others, what

:29:33. > :29:38.were you talking about? Has been a very satisfactory day at the office,

:29:39. > :29:43.if I can put it like that. 43% plus of the vote, 50% of the seats, much

:29:44. > :29:47.as we were last time around, consolidated very strongly in a

:29:48. > :29:51.heartland position. As a member of Parliament, I'm very proud of the

:29:52. > :29:54.team, canvassers, and I must congratulate the staff, they have

:29:55. > :29:58.done an excellent job. They seem to be ahead of schedule. How many of

:29:59. > :30:02.the four candidates that you are running would be successful? You

:30:03. > :30:12.have three last time round, pushing for four, some people thought that

:30:13. > :30:14.maybe overambitious. At the moment, I am right in saying, think, David

:30:15. > :30:19.McIlveen, and outgoing MLA, is behind the new man, Phillip Logan.

:30:20. > :30:24.Could you have a casualty? You might have overreached yourself? We ran

:30:25. > :30:28.four candidates the last time. We were about 200 votes out in real

:30:29. > :30:33.terms trying to get that. We have a position this year that we have run

:30:34. > :30:37.for again. It is hard to see us winning the fourth seat, depending

:30:38. > :30:40.on transfers, and we don't know how they will go at this stage. There

:30:41. > :30:45.could be a slip-up elsewhere. But I accept that it's probably unlikely.

:30:46. > :30:48.To hold the three seats will be excellent and we want to keep

:30:49. > :30:52.building on that. But you always have to keep striving for more and

:30:53. > :30:55.that is what we have tried to do. In terms of personalities and

:30:56. > :30:58.personnel, we always said what was important is policies. We have to

:30:59. > :31:03.make sure the consistent view in the policy of the party goes forward

:31:04. > :31:06.and, if there is a change in personnel, that is a very sad thing

:31:07. > :31:08.for the individuals concerned, but we have to make sure the party comes

:31:09. > :31:18.first. Does it look like David McIlveen is

:31:19. > :31:24.the casualty? Is it bad vote management? Phillip Logan was maybe

:31:25. > :31:29.the one taking a punt if he goes in ahead of David music ill vin, it

:31:30. > :31:32.looks odd, doesn't it? It is ultimately up to the voters, of

:31:33. > :31:36.course. We try to manage the constituency as best as we can. If

:31:37. > :31:42.those things happen, they happen. But it is at the moment about 2-300

:31:43. > :31:45.votes in it. We have not got tonne the serious transfers of our

:31:46. > :31:49.unionist parties which will come a little later on in the stage it is

:31:50. > :31:55.that point where we start to have a clear view of who the ultimate seat

:31:56. > :31:58.winner will be. But that is the issue of elections. People put

:31:59. > :32:04.themselves up, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

:32:05. > :32:08.A quick word about Jim alster, the TUV leader. I'm not sure if you

:32:09. > :32:15.describe him as your nemesis. He is home. He is comfortable. But it

:32:16. > :32:19.doesn't look like, well, he is not bringing his running meat, Tim Olsty

:32:20. > :32:25.Gaston with him. Do you allow yourself a quiet smile about that?

:32:26. > :32:33.Is that part of the bus news as far as the DUP is concerned? I can tell

:32:34. > :32:38.you as Jim alster said to you, if he did not get more than one over the

:32:39. > :32:42.line it would be a failure, so today out of his mouth, he has condemned

:32:43. > :32:46.himself as a failure. I didn't say it, he did.

:32:47. > :32:54.OK. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. Good to hear your

:32:55. > :33:01.thoughts. Rick Willford Nicholas Whyte, Ian pace Paisley is a former

:33:02. > :33:06.student of yours at university many years ago, yes, and so was I!

:33:07. > :33:12.Interesting. He is happy to make that a public

:33:13. > :33:20.smile. No love lost between the DUP and the TUV and the Paisleys and Jim

:33:21. > :33:26.alster? No. Is that a failure? Nigeria eel Dodds made the point,

:33:27. > :33:32.Ian has made it again? Well, they are OK to do it. He said it himself

:33:33. > :33:38.it was a measure of his success. One would be a failure. It is. The DUP

:33:39. > :33:46.held up the market well. They may loose the out seat here and there

:33:47. > :33:51.but also pick it up. There was a shuffling, a challenge,

:33:52. > :33:57.coming from the frame of the unionist votes, so much, I think

:33:58. > :34:01.that with Sinn Fein from the left, from the anti-Australia stairity

:34:02. > :34:06.candidates in particular, the SDLP, at the moment, I don't think they

:34:07. > :34:13.will get the second seat in south Belfast. And to be gloomy about

:34:14. > :34:17.this, as far as the SDLP is concerned, I wonder if they will

:34:18. > :34:23.have enough to qualify for the Expect I have. That will be would be

:34:24. > :34:25.a slap in the face with a wet fish. But it is looking difficult for

:34:26. > :34:32.them. It is hard to sell or package that

:34:33. > :34:36.in any way as a successful election? Equally, Mike Nesbitt, I don't know

:34:37. > :34:43.how many envelopes he posted himself or whether they were colour-coded.

:34:44. > :34:47.Interesting that Lord Empey said that himself.

:34:48. > :34:53.Yes. But I think that they will be where they started at 16.

:34:54. > :34:58.At 16? Yes. Given he has talked about the electoral cycle, that this

:34:59. > :35:06.is the last part in the first cycle, if they end up exactly where they

:35:07. > :35:09.are in 2016 where they were in 2011, the momentum he was claiming in the

:35:10. > :35:12.Westminster and the government elections has come to a gianting

:35:13. > :35:19.halt. But there were many people, I was

:35:20. > :35:24.among them, perhaps he was overclaiming his resurgence. He

:35:25. > :35:30.didn't want any of that. I think that it has been described

:35:31. > :35:35.he was Mr 70 the %. That was their increase in the share of the

:35:36. > :35:42.government elections. They had a famous victory last year. But this,

:35:43. > :35:50.the moment, this suggests that has come to a bit of a juddering halt.

:35:51. > :35:56.Let's talk about the fortunes of the Alliance Party as we discern them so

:35:57. > :35:59.far. Is it a bit of a mixed bag? Well, obviously many of the seats

:36:00. > :36:04.are to be declared. We are looking good to hold all eight of our seats

:36:05. > :36:10.it is interesting to note that over the past 18 years the Alliance is

:36:11. > :36:16.perhaps the only party not to have lost an Assembly seat. So in a good

:36:17. > :36:20.position. Obviously we have ambitions to gain, that is not quite

:36:21. > :36:26.coming to pass as things stand. But bearing in mind what is happening to

:36:27. > :36:30.many of the parties you may place on the electoral spectrum either side

:36:31. > :36:35.of us, we are doing well to hold our own and indeed getting an increased

:36:36. > :36:40.vote in places like east Belfast and South Down.

:36:41. > :36:44.I keep hearing time and again, we heard it during the generation 2016

:36:45. > :36:49.debate, young people voting for the first time. They say that there are

:36:50. > :36:55.no parties we want to vote for. That they are tired of the same old same

:36:56. > :37:00.old, tired of orange and green, tired of Sinn Fein versus the DUP.

:37:01. > :37:04.Your party said and Naomi Long and others have made the point, look at

:37:05. > :37:09.the Alliance Party to. Support them, that they are trying to break the

:37:10. > :37:14.mould... It doesn't happen? Election after election it doesn't happen? It

:37:15. > :37:18.is a challenge for all of the parties. Not just in Northern

:37:19. > :37:22.Ireland but around the world in how they engage with the young people.

:37:23. > :37:26.On the left, there is a growth in a number of voices. I would anticipate

:37:27. > :37:32.that the vote is heavily excused to young people. There is a challenge

:37:33. > :37:39.in how to engage with that. That is not unique, we are seeing it in the

:37:40. > :37:43.United States, with the Bernie Sanders situation. And with what is

:37:44. > :37:47.happening in Great Britain and in the south of Ireland and the

:37:48. > :37:52.European Union as well, we are seeing the break down of traditional

:37:53. > :37:58.politics. That is a story of the election itself. But in that context

:37:59. > :38:05.we are holding our own. We are by far the strongest and most

:38:06. > :38:14.progressive voice in the Assembly. When you draw Bernie Sanders into

:38:15. > :38:23.the equation, he has been successful in recruiting voting from young

:38:24. > :38:28.people. And on Tuesday evening, we had a young chap who looked at the

:38:29. > :38:32.five candidates, including your leader, who said, we are clearly

:38:33. > :38:38.young people and not the target audience for those political leaders

:38:39. > :38:40.there. Was a real sense of disengagement and disaffection

:38:41. > :38:47.amongst the first time voters with what passes for the political

:38:48. > :38:54.establishment in Northern Ireland. I would like to bring in Niall

:38:55. > :39:00.O'Donnghaile from the Sinn Fein. You are happy with where you are but you

:39:01. > :39:05.have been outpolled by the SDLP in Foyle and thumbed by People Before

:39:06. > :39:10.Profit in West Belfast, a remarkable performance by Gerry Carroll? I

:39:11. > :39:14.resent the fact that we are saying that people that vote for any of the

:39:15. > :39:21.parties that don't vote on the issues that are important to them.

:39:22. > :39:33.People vote on the basis of social issue, political and ideological. We

:39:34. > :39:39.do a disservice when we do dismiss their issues. This is not a great

:39:40. > :39:52.surprise, we have set out retaining five seats, we are still in the mix.

:39:53. > :39:59.Martina, and others are doing very well. So, steady the ship goes so

:40:00. > :40:05.far, Mark. But, Sinn Fein's line often at times, is that they speak

:40:06. > :40:10.up for the dispossessed, provide a voice for the people that don't have

:40:11. > :40:15.a voice, that you speak for young people, against the status quo,

:40:16. > :40:23.against the establishment. But it seems in certain constituencies

:40:24. > :40:27.people have opted for Eamon McCann and Carroll, it must be a little bit

:40:28. > :40:35.embarrassing? That is why we have elections.

:40:36. > :40:39.It is clear that young people, more older people, people firmly on the

:40:40. > :40:45.left, people from a diverse background have voted for Sinn Fein.

:40:46. > :40:50.Each may at that take a seat off Sinn Fein, may prevent you getting a

:40:51. > :40:56.third seat, may take a seat from West Belfast? That may be the case

:40:57. > :41:02.but we are still firmly in the doors. We will keep an aeye on it.

:41:03. > :41:09.Mick, what do you make of the apparent rise of People Before

:41:10. > :41:15.Profit? It is looking good for Eamon McCann at the age of 73, after 15

:41:16. > :41:18.years of trying? It is. There is a support for a left of centre,

:41:19. > :41:23.anti-Australia stairity grouping within Northern Ireland. But it is

:41:24. > :41:29.small. For Sinn Fein in particular, this must be really painful. To be

:41:30. > :41:34.outflanked in West Belfast by People Before Profit candidate.

:41:35. > :41:43.You cannot be otherwise. I was being told, I mean, you hear

:41:44. > :41:48.all sorts of rumours but there was talk of some candidates knocking on

:41:49. > :41:53.doors to make them the second choice, as it was a given that Gerry

:41:54. > :42:01.Carroll was going to win. It is clear he has a vote.

:42:02. > :42:07.I know, I understand. We don't engage on that base. We are a

:42:08. > :42:12.political rat visit. We are out for five to retain five

:42:13. > :42:18.that is still possible. OK. Let's bring in Clare and Nigel.

:42:19. > :42:30.A word about People Before Profit it does not have impact really on the

:42:31. > :42:35.SDLP? We spoke about it earlier. It shows there that something is not

:42:36. > :42:42.delivering. The deprivation that pass persisted there, there is a

:42:43. > :42:49.feeling that some roles are locked out. But people feel that issues are

:42:50. > :42:56.not being spokenen about that they connect with.

:42:57. > :43:01.And Clare another person you could lose out to is your candidate

:43:02. > :43:09.Attwood? I don't believe he will. He is in a fight. We have a system

:43:10. > :43:13.for a reason. People are supposed to attract transfers from across the

:43:14. > :43:17.board. Alex is in a good position because

:43:18. > :43:20.of the decades of the good work he has put in.

:43:21. > :43:25.There is a mixture of small parties doing well. The People Before

:43:26. > :43:31.Profit, the Greens. Looking for two seats, maybe more. We have lost John

:43:32. > :43:40.music alster. TUV has not grown, it seems it is an uneven picture? It

:43:41. > :43:46.is. Even in Belfast where People Before Profit ran a vigorous

:43:47. > :43:52.campaign but did not impact on West Belfast where they had similar

:43:53. > :43:58.issues. It did not materialise to the extent that some imagined. But

:43:59. > :44:03.you are right, looking at Ukip and TUV and even the PUP in Belfast, not

:44:04. > :44:08.anywhere near what some were predicting that they might do a

:44:09. > :44:12.short time ago. Others on the left, the Australia stairity parties that

:44:13. > :44:19.have down well in the southern Irish politics seem to be making a break

:44:20. > :44:26.through here. But we have to get it to the perspective, looking at the

:44:27. > :44:30.Shankhill Road, fast-track McCubery, the DUP candidate has recorded a

:44:31. > :44:34.substantial vote. The idea that all of the main stream parties are out

:44:35. > :44:39.of touch with the working class scorns a very, very black and white,

:44:40. > :44:44.bunt, unsophisticated way of looking at things. There are parties in the

:44:45. > :44:51.main stream in terms of numbers that are working on the ground like the

:44:52. > :44:53.DUP, in places like the Shankill. Reflected in the massive vote in

:44:54. > :45:04.north and West Belfast. We are back shortly.

:45:05. > :45:13.We have some new panel members with me. Conor Heston is from the Centre

:45:14. > :45:19.For Democracy And Peace Building. Is this democracy in action today? I

:45:20. > :45:26.think it is. The turnout has been about the same as the last election.

:45:27. > :45:32.A lot of people thought it would be down, but it is in line with the

:45:33. > :45:36.last election. What do you think about that? More of the same, or do

:45:37. > :45:40.you think the fresh start document will give people something

:45:41. > :45:46.different? It looks like the DUP have done very well indeed, I think

:45:47. > :45:49.Sinn Fein as well. I think it is a message from the electorate that

:45:50. > :45:52.they want to see the fresh start agreement implemented, they want to

:45:53. > :45:57.see it in action. The keyword is delivering. I think people are now

:45:58. > :46:00.looking to see politicians actually delivering in policy areas, making

:46:01. > :46:04.things happen and making the change everybody in Northern Ireland wants

:46:05. > :46:08.to see. Chris Donald, you're here with two hats on, with your

:46:09. > :46:14.commentator had interesting stories arriving in west and south Belfast.

:46:15. > :46:21.Clare Bailey from the Greens polling very strongly? South Belfast is a

:46:22. > :46:24.story, the society is becoming more diverse and people are moving away

:46:25. > :46:31.from some of the traditional voting box. In south Belfast, with all the

:46:32. > :46:34.SDLP and Alliance might have been vying for the second seed each, it

:46:35. > :46:38.looks like they will both lose out to Clare Bailey from the Green

:46:39. > :46:42.Party. A bad loss from the SDLP. One of the stories of the election has

:46:43. > :46:47.been the SDLP getting in a position to pick of one or two Mac receipts

:46:48. > :46:50.from Sinn Fein, to shore up their votes. Unfortunately, it looks like

:46:51. > :46:56.they are going to shade a few more seats again. It looks like they

:46:57. > :47:02.could lose in Foyle, they could fail to pick up a seat in South Tyrone,

:47:03. > :47:07.even lose in West Belfast. Coming back to that point, we are seeing

:47:08. > :47:11.democracy, we have a Sinn Fein and DUP led executive. The other parties

:47:12. > :47:15.that have been staying with one foot in that and also trying to do this

:47:16. > :47:18.at the same time, the message being sent to them is that it is not

:47:19. > :47:22.working, they are not distinguish themselves. The parties that are

:47:23. > :47:27.losing, when it comes to elections. In the next fortnight, there is

:47:28. > :47:31.going to be serious conversations within the parties as to whether it

:47:32. > :47:35.suits them in the middle or long-term future to stand aside,

:47:36. > :47:40.articulate a credible opposition message, and that might allow them

:47:41. > :47:47.to become the protest alternative vote. The message for the SDLP is

:47:48. > :47:52.very important. Sinn Fein have lost significant portions of their vote.

:47:53. > :47:56.At one time they held 70% of the vote in West Belfast. Is that down

:47:57. > :48:00.to taking their eye off the ball in terms of local issues and Gerry

:48:01. > :48:04.Carroll has stepped in, Sinn Fein have been too busy looking at the

:48:05. > :48:09.bigger picture and things from a Stormont and All-Ireland

:48:10. > :48:13.perspective? Firstly, I think it's difficult for any party to vote five

:48:14. > :48:23.seats in sex. It is not the done thing. ER -- six. To do that would

:48:24. > :48:28.be impressive. I have heard the message articulated many times,

:48:29. > :48:33.people see them becoming complacent, locally. They come arrogant in many

:48:34. > :48:37.people. True eyes. There has been a failure to transition to a new

:48:38. > :48:42.generation of representatives. Gerry Carroll is a younger representative.

:48:43. > :48:45.There is energy and enthusiasm around his campaign that people

:48:46. > :48:51.identified with. Very many people. This was not a socialist vote. This

:48:52. > :48:55.was a Republican constituency, and thousands of people said... Clearly

:48:56. > :48:59.there is a socialist element to it, West Belfast, being in the top of

:49:00. > :49:04.deprived areas and feeling really that the gap between rich and poor

:49:05. > :49:10.is too wide? Undoubtedly, that is the case. But there has always been

:49:11. > :49:19.a socialist alternative. The reason that he was used as the vehicle is

:49:20. > :49:23.that people saw it as an alternative credible vote. The Nationalists in

:49:24. > :49:31.West Belfast looked past it, when they wanted to express a message of

:49:32. > :49:35.protest that Sinn Fein. They are increasingly being seen as

:49:36. > :49:40.irrelevant. You are leading one of the teaching unions, do you see this

:49:41. > :49:44.election has a game changer? There was discussion before 2011 that

:49:45. > :49:47.somebody else would take the education portfolio. Do you think it

:49:48. > :49:51.will be different, and if it is would they be able to do a better

:49:52. > :49:54.job? First, for young people, this was not a very exciting campaign.

:49:55. > :49:59.There was nowhere for them to vote that was different from what we have

:50:00. > :50:02.had in the past. A lot of people are complaining about that. Apart from

:50:03. > :50:05.that, the important bit now is the next two weeks, when they work out

:50:06. > :50:08.what the programme for government is going to be and what will be

:50:09. > :50:15.contained within the education part of that, then the big decision will

:50:16. > :50:20.be which party takes the portfolio. With the news a few days ago, ?22

:50:21. > :50:24.million, cut to the education authority budget, inevitably that

:50:25. > :50:28.will end up affecting schools? We are in a funding crisis, we have

:50:29. > :50:31.been there for the last couple of years and it will get worse over the

:50:32. > :50:34.next four years. We want to see a government that does something about

:50:35. > :50:38.funding education levels it should be funded. Is it about money of

:50:39. > :50:42.funding it slightly differently? It is a bit like the health debate.

:50:43. > :50:45.There does not seem to be the confidence to change how hospitals

:50:46. > :50:50.are operated, it becomes a very local issue, and the same can be

:50:51. > :50:53.said about education? There have been initiatives recently that might

:50:54. > :50:58.change the way education is divided in terms of shared education. We

:50:59. > :51:02.will see how that develops over time and there might be something that

:51:03. > :51:07.can put down what is needed in the budget. It is interesting, Clare

:51:08. > :51:11.Bailey's vote in south Belfast. She has definitely appealed to a voice

:51:12. > :51:16.out there that... Where should they outvoted, where have they voted in

:51:17. > :51:24.the past, where was she thinking about? She has benefited from a vote

:51:25. > :51:30.that the SDLP had in the past, holding those two MLA seats. Still

:51:31. > :51:35.early days, it still could be two SDLP seats? It could, but Clare

:51:36. > :51:39.Bailey looks quite strong. It is not just in south Belfast, the Green

:51:40. > :51:43.Party seems to be eating into the Alliance vote. That suggests,

:51:44. > :51:47.Alliance being part of the executive, the Green Party and

:51:48. > :51:52.Steven Agnew, the opposition corner at Stormont, he has articulated pure

:51:53. > :51:55.opposition voice. Being able to do that has allowed perhaps the Greens

:51:56. > :51:59.to build on the notion that they are presenting a fresh alternative. It

:52:00. > :52:03.is going to be one of the surprises of the election if she gets elected,

:52:04. > :52:10.it will also make the SDLP and Alliance look, not just Sinn Fein

:52:11. > :52:14.that have lost in some constituencies up to this point, the

:52:15. > :52:17.other point is the Ulster Unionists that might lose out altogether.

:52:18. > :52:20.There are a number of low hanging fruit seats, if you want to call it

:52:21. > :52:24.that come on the back of the election victory last year, when

:52:25. > :52:28.they won two Westminster seats. They should have been able to pick up two

:52:29. > :52:33.or three seats. It looks like they will have a very bad election. We

:52:34. > :52:38.will be here until midnight. For now, thank you very much.

:52:39. > :52:51.Now, a while back we saw Jim Wells at the South Down count in Lisbon.

:52:52. > :52:57.Earlier, he was very critical of the electoral office.

:52:58. > :53:03.I wish to make the strongest possible objection to the decision

:53:04. > :53:06.of the electoral office to deny Sinead Bradley's disabled husband

:53:07. > :53:10.and my disabled wife to get into this count. It is an absolute

:53:11. > :53:15.scandal, the electoral office have gone far too far. Sinead has topped

:53:16. > :53:20.the poll in the first count, she wanted her husband beside her, I am

:53:21. > :53:26.the first to be elected, my wife has been denied, this is a disgrace! Jim

:53:27. > :53:36.Wells, not happy about access issues. Happy that he has been

:53:37. > :53:41.returned as an MLA. It is not often that we see that kind of issue

:53:42. > :53:50.raising its head in such a public way? Serious message, he is on

:53:51. > :53:54.Twitter, he is furious about this, and there is the issue with Sinead

:53:55. > :53:58.Bradley's husband. It will have to be ironed out in the future. I don't

:53:59. > :54:04.know what was going on, he seems to be extremely angry. We know he has

:54:05. > :54:08.been a tragic and torrid time. It has been a quieter campaign than

:54:09. > :54:12.last year, but he's not happy. Let's talk about the wider picture. You

:54:13. > :54:16.have been speaking to Nicholas and looking at numbers. You are always

:54:17. > :54:20.ahead of the curve. So, just before we go into the graphic sequence,

:54:21. > :54:25.what is your assessment of where we are at the moment? A pretty good

:54:26. > :54:26.election for the DUP and Sinn Fein. They haven't necessarily put on in

:54:27. > :54:43.terms of the share of the vote, but they seem to have defended

:54:44. > :54:46.what they have got OK. We were often saying that 2011 could be the high

:54:47. > :54:48.water mark, with 38 seats for the DUP. We are looking at the

:54:49. > :54:51.possibility they could come out with a net gain. We know they are looking

:54:52. > :54:55.at gains in constituencies like south Belfast. They could get one in

:54:56. > :54:59.Strangford. Say they take a lost somewhere else, like Lagan Valley,

:55:00. > :55:04.they might end up on 39, they could end up on 40. They could be very

:55:05. > :55:08.happy with that. Sinn Fein have taken some losses, but they are also

:55:09. > :55:15.winning in other places. They could lose out, I suppose, in West

:55:16. > :55:20.Belfast. We don't know if that is going to be a Sinn Fein loss, or an

:55:21. > :55:25.SDLP loss. People Before Profit are coming through. They have certainly

:55:26. > :55:30.made gains in places like West Londonderry, at the expense of the

:55:31. > :55:34.SDLP. They could be around 29 or 30 mark. The Ulster Unionists have

:55:35. > :55:38.regained some defections, but maybe not all of them. They might slip

:55:39. > :55:43.down slightly. The big losers, I think, are likely to be the SDLP. We

:55:44. > :55:48.are looking at four or five places where they could lose out and they

:55:49. > :55:52.were on 14 last time. The significant thing, if we come to the

:55:53. > :55:54.executive formation, is if they could fall below the threshold of

:55:55. > :56:01.getting into the executive. They might find themselves in opposition,

:56:02. > :56:04.not out of choice, but out of necessity. This is Newry and Armagh

:56:05. > :56:17.after the first stage. Even see William Eireann. That you can see

:56:18. > :56:25.William Hirwaun. This is the share market? The SDLP had a couple of

:56:26. > :56:35.candidates in on this. The DUP were out polling the Ulster Unionists. It

:56:36. > :56:38.was a good result for the DUP. They let the Ulster Unionists take the

:56:39. > :56:47.lead in the Westminster election, but have not lost out at all. I have

:56:48. > :56:53.not clicked my clicker hardener. This is the change. This is a place

:56:54. > :56:56.where they lost Dominic Bradley, a good vote getter for the SDLP last

:56:57. > :57:04.time. That perhaps explains some of the slide. They have Justin McNulty

:57:05. > :57:08.in the race. The DUP must have done some pretty hard work on the ground.

:57:09. > :57:12.The Ulster Unionists, the overall vote has slipped. Danny Kennedy did

:57:13. > :57:17.suffer. This time round he had a running mate. He didn't have one

:57:18. > :57:26.last time. It is not just that he had a running mate, the overall

:57:27. > :57:33.Ulster Unionist vote has slipped. You can see that William Irwin will

:57:34. > :57:36.be pleased. I saw a picture on Twitter and he had a large smile.

:57:37. > :57:44.Towards the bottom, you can see the SDLP candidates pretty much neck and

:57:45. > :57:48.neck. Well, you would expect Justin McNulty, who is ahead, to come out

:57:49. > :57:56.of the successful SDLP candidate. It looks like Karen McKevitt might lose

:57:57. > :58:01.out. Sam Nicholson, as we were pointing out, the Ulster Unionist

:58:02. > :58:06.candidate, the second one running, the son of the party's MEP Jim

:58:07. > :58:14.Nicholson. This is West Belfast, coming up.

:58:15. > :58:21.Gerry Carroll topped the poll. Everybody thought he would do well,

:58:22. > :58:25.did people expect him to top it with such a huge margin? We knew that

:58:26. > :58:29.Sinn Fein were still trying to balance their votes. This is where

:58:30. > :58:32.they have performed an amazing vote balancing act by getting five

:58:33. > :58:37.previously. They were clearly dividing up the territory and trying

:58:38. > :58:42.not to top the polls. I think it was a foregone conclusion. You can see

:58:43. > :58:51.the 22% share of the vote that Gerry Carroll got. This is the change on

:58:52. > :58:59.2011. People Before Profit, but dramatically? At the expense of SDLP

:59:00. > :59:02.and Sinn Fein. The DUP's Frank McCoubrey is in there, but he will

:59:03. > :59:07.be quite hard pushed, given that there are not made transfers to go

:59:08. > :59:12.in his direction. Is it possible to call if it will be the fifth Sinn

:59:13. > :59:17.Fein seat or Alex Attwood? That is what it comes down to. I don't think

:59:18. > :59:20.you can call it for sure. Chatting it over with Nicholas, we think it

:59:21. > :59:27.is probably Alex Attwood that is going to end up taking the fall, at

:59:28. > :59:32.the expense of Gerry Carroll. You can see Alex Maskey elected on the

:59:33. > :59:37.second stage. The numbers are certainly interesting. There was a

:59:38. > :59:44.lot of talk that it could be Pat Sheehan that loses out. As the

:59:45. > :59:48.stages go on, you can see Alex Attwood picking up more than 750

:59:49. > :59:53.transfers. He might be transferred friendly enough that it goes down to

:59:54. > :59:58.the wire. As we were talking about that earlier, it has been the case

:59:59. > :00:03.for the SDLP in a few constituencies in the past. South Belfast was a

:00:04. > :00:10.good example. The state of the parties, ten from the DUP, hateful

:00:11. > :00:11.Sinn Fein. One each for the SDLP, the Ulster Unionists, The Alliance

:00:12. > :00:26.Party and People Before Profit. Well, Alex Attwood, from your point

:00:27. > :00:34.of view, he is important, he is not out yet but it will be tight? As you

:00:35. > :00:42.said. But he is certainly not. We have held seats, by 14, 15 votes.

:00:43. > :00:48.And there was a thought when some could go to bed thinking they not

:00:49. > :00:52.had the seat but then do? Yes, fortunes can turn around in the

:00:53. > :00:59.final hours of a count. But no, I'm not going to lie, it has not been a

:01:00. > :01:05.fabulous election but a big ship to turn around. The SDLP's decline

:01:06. > :01:10.happened over a few elections. We have three years before the next

:01:11. > :01:14.election. Without the choice, Claire Clare if you are not in position to

:01:15. > :01:18.make the choice to go into opposition or take up your position

:01:19. > :01:23.in the Executive, as you don't have above what we think is the magic

:01:24. > :01:28.number of 11... I believe we will. There are nine banked and four or

:01:29. > :01:36.five in good shape to take on. So I think we will in the first instance.

:01:37. > :01:42.But if you look at Collum Eastwood, Nichola Mallon, Durcan, Dan

:01:43. > :01:47.McCrossan, that is a young vibrant team, that if we go into opposition,

:01:48. > :01:52.we will have a raison d'etre and have a reason to rebuild.

:01:53. > :01:57.And Feargal McKinney, your party's Deputy Leader, if he is not returned

:01:58. > :02:01.in south Belfast? It is difficult. And south Belfast has been on a

:02:02. > :02:05.knife-edge. We were clear that second seat has been held by a tight

:02:06. > :02:12.margin. Unfortunately it does not look like we have been able to

:02:13. > :02:16.withstand a substantial Green surge. I remember him taking part in the

:02:17. > :02:21.outside broadcast about four weeks ago. Feargal was the SDLP

:02:22. > :02:27.representative, a question was a plan B, what was it? He said he

:02:28. > :02:31.didn't have a plan B. That plan A was the plan B. No alternative. So

:02:32. > :02:35.on a personal level, that will be tough? We need to be clear.

:02:36. > :02:41.Everybody that puts their name before the electorate should be

:02:42. > :02:47.honoured and credited. You know, no harm to the commentators but the

:02:48. > :02:50.best hurdles are on the ditch. The 250-odd people who had the good

:02:51. > :02:55.grace to go before the electorate, to put out their ideas there. Not

:02:56. > :02:59.everybody wins. Everybody should be credited it is difficult when they

:03:00. > :03:07.loose and lose close colleagues. That may be a situation for the DUP.

:03:08. > :03:12.It could be that David McIlveen, a well respected DUP MLA could lose

:03:13. > :03:18.out. You put out a fourth candidate, a new boy. He may sneak in ahead of

:03:19. > :03:24.David McIlveen? It remains to be seen. Of course.

:03:25. > :03:28.But, there could be strategic levels about putting in extra candidates,

:03:29. > :03:36.dividing it up, one tries one's best. At the end of the day there

:03:37. > :03:40.can be individual casualties, whatever party it is, especially for

:03:41. > :03:47.a sitting MLA it is very difficult to come to terms with. People like

:03:48. > :03:51.John McAllister who fought a very principled stand. I commiserate with

:03:52. > :03:55.him today as well. He did take a decision which he knew

:03:56. > :04:00.would probably cause him a very difficult fight to get re-elected.

:04:01. > :04:05.You have to admire people. Sometimes people say that politicians are in

:04:06. > :04:10.it for themselves, people are in it, often, in the vast buck of case, out

:04:11. > :04:16.of principle. Because they believe in things, they give up careers and

:04:17. > :04:20.take risks, as has happened in the case of John McAllister. Can I pick

:04:21. > :04:24.up on the Newry Armagh result. Like the South Antrim result, in the

:04:25. > :04:29.Westminster election, Newry Armagh, Ulster had a free run. There

:04:30. > :04:34.was talk of Paul Berry in the field. There was pressure in the sec

:04:35. > :04:38.candidate. That is a remarkable result in Newry Armagh and

:04:39. > :04:52.likewise the South Antrim result. Turning it back to the Assembly in

:04:53. > :04:55.2011. The talk about resurgence, overblown and overhyped. The Ulster

:04:56. > :04:59.Unionist had their second worst year... It was a question from me,

:05:00. > :05:04.no the a statement. You pointed it out. Quite right. But

:05:05. > :05:09.in the European election, when they claimed a massive advance on the

:05:10. > :05:14.council elections, on the second day they had the worst European election

:05:15. > :05:20.result in history. It was brushed under the carpet. This was overblown

:05:21. > :05:24.on the basis of a small advance in the council results. What we are

:05:25. > :05:30.seeing today is a shuddering halt to all of that talk.

:05:31. > :05:34.Whatever is in the envelope, this That Mike Nesbitt posted himself,

:05:35. > :05:38.whichever it is, one thing will be clear, it did not contain the sort

:05:39. > :05:43.of result we are likely to see come the end on Saturday night. I think

:05:44. > :05:48.hard questions will be asked. Not least on the issue of government.

:05:49. > :05:55.There will be the view of some that will stay out of government to

:05:56. > :05:58.reinvent themselves, or to be energised but Ulster Unionist made a

:05:59. > :06:02.play of coming out of government. They thought that they could

:06:03. > :06:06.criticise the DUP. If you are out of government, you are irrelevant.

:06:07. > :06:11.OK. I want to go out and about and speak to a few more reporters and

:06:12. > :06:19.get an update on what is happening on the ground.

:06:20. > :06:23.There we are at Foyle. They are counting there and for East

:06:24. > :06:27.Londonderry. Two fascinating tussle unfolding? That's right. No results

:06:28. > :06:32.yet. We are waiting patiently to get results. But the story emerging this

:06:33. > :06:42.afternoon is how well the independents are doing in the Foyle

:06:43. > :06:45.count. Drshgs McClusky is a GP polling impressively, 3400 and

:06:46. > :06:49.counting, continuing to get transfers. She says that is the

:06:50. > :06:51.electorate railing against the established parties in Stormont,

:06:52. > :06:56.that they are not doing enough for the city in terms of jobs,

:06:57. > :07:02.investment, increation the advertisement in the rail and the

:07:03. > :07:07.roads and really looking out for people that she is dealing with in

:07:08. > :07:12.her GP practice. She says that is why she has the fire in her belly to

:07:13. > :07:20.go for an election as an independent to stand up against the big party

:07:21. > :07:28.machines. Now if you think that Dr McClusky has done well but the story

:07:29. > :07:33.that eclipse that is the story of Mr McCann. The 73-year-old. He has

:07:34. > :07:36.polled impressively. The word from the established political parties is

:07:37. > :07:45.that he could well do it this time around. Who are the big losers? It

:07:46. > :07:52.could be the SDLP's Gerrard Diver. So two for SDLP and two for the Sinn

:07:53. > :07:59.Fein. So still a media story for the battle for supremacy for the Sinn

:08:00. > :08:04.Fein and the SDLP. In the East Londonderry count that is

:08:05. > :08:11.continuing. It is looking at this stage like three DUP, one SDLP,

:08:12. > :08:14.although there could be a wobble and the independent, Claire Sugden

:08:15. > :08:18.believes she will retain her seat. In West Tyrone we have had the

:08:19. > :08:23.result of the full re-count. They found the 36 missing votes but

:08:24. > :08:30.no-one has been deemed elected on the first count it looks very much

:08:31. > :08:35.as you were as none of the independents in West Tyrone appear

:08:36. > :08:42.to have mounted a sufficient challenge to threaten the outgoing

:08:43. > :08:46.MLAs. Arlene Foster has left amid jubilant scenes, celebrating with

:08:47. > :08:52.her colleague, Maurice Morrow. A strong performance from the DUP to

:08:53. > :08:58.ensure that Arlene Foster topped the poll and Maurice Morrow elected on

:08:59. > :09:04.the transfers of her second count. On the nationalist side it looks

:09:05. > :09:10.like the SDLP to miss out on regaining the seat they gained five

:09:11. > :09:15.years ago. And there is a newcomer, John Feely.

:09:16. > :09:21.No-one across the line in Lagan Valley but not so the case in South

:09:22. > :09:27.Down. The former Health Minister Jim Wells has been elected on the third

:09:28. > :09:33.wound of counting. It caps off what has been a better recent period for

:09:34. > :09:37.Mr Wells. He has had a torrid year politically. Not only resigning from

:09:38. > :09:43.the Health Minister post but doubts as to whether the DUP wanted him to

:09:44. > :09:50.run in South Down. His victory in his mind, a little edge taken off it

:09:51. > :09:55.as his wife, Grace, who is ill, was not admitted to the count hall to

:09:56. > :10:00.help him celebrate the moment of victory. She is allowed into the

:10:01. > :10:06.Leisure Centre, she has not been registered for the count count hall

:10:07. > :10:17.Mr Wells is deeply unhappy, he is to be making a complaint to the

:10:18. > :10:27.Electoral Commission office. And here the Megan Fearon and Danny

:10:28. > :10:36.Kennedy to get seats. Danny Kennedy may be disapointed with his seat.

:10:37. > :10:47.And early days but there could be a seat for Justin McNulty, outpolling

:10:48. > :10:51.his running mate by about 800 votes. Jobban Dobson and Dough Beadie are

:10:52. > :10:57.polling well. Sinn Fein pushing for two. Dolores Kelly, we thought her

:10:58. > :11:03.seat was under threat is still in the fight about 1,000 behind John

:11:04. > :11:08.O'Dowd and that is the situation here.

:11:09. > :11:15.Here in Belfast at the Titanic Exhibition Centre I am joined by two

:11:16. > :11:18.female candidates who could not be further apart politically but

:11:19. > :11:25.looking good in terms of getting elected. We are waiting on the 6th

:11:26. > :11:31.stage for south Belfast. Clare Bailey where do you think you got

:11:32. > :11:37.the votes from? We have seen a huge increase in the Westminster

:11:38. > :11:40.elections and south Belfast there we secured under 6 pest

:11:41. > :11:44.first-past-the-post. So we have hung on to those people. What they were

:11:45. > :11:48.telling us is that in that election people were starting to look at

:11:49. > :11:53.policy, looking at people that they wanted to support. So bringing an

:11:54. > :11:56.end to the tactical vote as they were seeing that they were voting

:11:57. > :12:02.for somebody that they wanted to keep out. So that was starting to

:12:03. > :12:05.stop. I think we have hung on to those voters and encouraged a lot

:12:06. > :12:11.more. There were more people wanting to give support but didn't want to

:12:12. > :12:15.swing the vote last year. As it is a PR election and a multi-seat

:12:16. > :12:19.returner, a lot of people were willing to lend us the number one

:12:20. > :12:24.and make a bit of history. Emma Little Pengelly it has been a good

:12:25. > :12:28.day for you and for the DUP? Yes, positive across Northern Ireland.

:12:29. > :12:32.Pleased to see many of my colleagues returned. We anticipate that a huge

:12:33. > :12:36.number of colleagues will be returned throughout the night.

:12:37. > :12:41.Do you think that you have been vindicated in the strategy of Arlene

:12:42. > :12:45.Foster for First Minister? It did get criticism during the campaign?

:12:46. > :12:51.It was not just a strategy it is a reality. Speaking to people on the

:12:52. > :12:56.doors this was an issue for people. Looking at campaigns across the UK

:12:57. > :13:00.and across countries, you are voting for the Prime Minister to lead the

:13:01. > :13:05.country, who is going to be the First Minister it is the same in

:13:06. > :13:09.Scotland and here. We were saying if you want Arlene as the First

:13:10. > :13:14.Minister, you have to support the DUP local candidates. We have so

:13:15. > :13:18.many fantastic candidates across the constituencies, hopefully it was not

:13:19. > :13:30.a difficult decision for people. Are you hoping that Christopher

:13:31. > :13:36.Stortford is joining you? Yes We are in the final stages of some people

:13:37. > :13:40.being eliminated. We have seeing things shift. But we are fairly

:13:41. > :13:46.confident that is looks good for getting two into south Belfast.

:13:47. > :13:50.Clare Bailey, the bigger picture for the Green Party, the magic number

:13:51. > :13:56.for Steven Agnew was three, potentially on course for two, do

:13:57. > :14:00.you think he can get the three? Well, Ross Brownlee has polled well.

:14:01. > :14:06.It is a transfers game. It is a transfer waiting game at the minute.

:14:07. > :14:11.I think if he is going to make it, I mean Ross made it to council in 2014

:14:12. > :14:15.and there were a long series of transfers. It took a long time. We

:14:16. > :14:20.are ready to dig in but certainly positive. I think he has done well.

:14:21. > :14:28.Do you think you will bring a fresh voice to Stormont? 100%. Looking at

:14:29. > :14:33.Steven's track record, being the only MLA for the Greens, he has

:14:34. > :14:40.brought through the children's bill, we have been able to change

:14:41. > :14:44.conversations. We were the first party to bring up the equal marriage

:14:45. > :14:50.debate. Proud to see how that develops. So all of those things are

:14:51. > :14:55.very, very important. If that is what one MLA can do, if we get the

:14:56. > :14:57.three in this time around we expect more different conversations to

:14:58. > :15:02.come. We will wait and see. Thank you very

:15:03. > :15:10.much for joining us. Now to Ballymena.

:15:11. > :15:17.We had four MLAs elected in Midcan Ulster. There could be a developing

:15:18. > :15:24.story there. Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill, Ian Milne and the SDLP's

:15:25. > :15:28.candidate elected. The votes are being redistributed it looks like it

:15:29. > :15:33.could come down to a three-person battle.

:15:34. > :15:39.There is also Keith Buchanan and the sitting MLA from the DUP. Ian McRae

:15:40. > :15:44.looks to be under threat from Keith Buchanan. They are neck and neck.

:15:45. > :15:50.It will be interesting as the stages go on to see what happens. There is

:15:51. > :15:56.a sitting DUP MLA under threat in north an trick, that is David

:15:57. > :16:01.McIlveen. And weect SPECT candidates from Sinn

:16:02. > :16:08.Fein to be elected. But it looks like three people in the final two

:16:09. > :16:13.seats. David McIlveen, Phillip Logan and Robin Swan.

:16:14. > :16:17.There are expected transfers to go ahead. Not much movement but

:16:18. > :16:22.fascinating battles coming up for the seats in the constituencies.

:16:23. > :16:31.Very interesting, and emerging story on elimination is happening in

:16:32. > :16:36.Newtownabbey, East and South Antrim. In East Antrim, we heard Colin

:16:37. > :16:43.Sheridan was eliminated, then we heard it to Maureen Morrow of the

:16:44. > :16:52.Unionists. In North Antrim, they had been hoping for a resurgence, that

:16:53. > :17:00.clearly hasn't happened. Adrian clock and -- Adrian Cochrane-Wilson

:17:01. > :17:03.has just been eliminated. That means they have not had the electoral

:17:04. > :17:16.resurgence they wanted in that particular seat. I am in Bangor, and

:17:17. > :17:22.Gordon Dunne has been elected is the latest news. That is the second MLA

:17:23. > :17:25.for North Down. The first was Alex Easton, who stormed in with 1.5

:17:26. > :17:31.times the quota for his first preferences. He said he was

:17:32. > :17:40.emotional and thanked the voters. The Alliance candidates polled well.

:17:41. > :17:44.Neither has reached the quota, each got quite a large vote, we're

:17:45. > :17:49.waiting to see which one reaches it. We are expecting the status quo as

:17:50. > :17:54.regards numbers. In Strangford, Mike Nesbitt topped the poll. That was

:17:55. > :17:57.against Michelle McIlveen. Both of them were elected in first

:17:58. > :18:05.preferences. He said he was stunned. Michelle McIlveen usually tops the

:18:06. > :18:10.poll. Mike Nesbitt, strong performance, they risk to his

:18:11. > :18:16.running mate, Nick Smith. Alliance's Kellie Armstrong was standing in the

:18:17. > :18:21.seat vacated by her colleague, Kieran McCarthy. She looks pretty

:18:22. > :18:27.strong and is rising by the minute. She looks safe. We expect the same

:18:28. > :18:32.kind of rundown. There is a question over Joe Boyle, the SDLP candidate.

:18:33. > :18:36.There has never been a nationalist winner of this collection in this

:18:37. > :18:37.area. It looks like he is creeping closer to finally making that after

:18:38. > :18:46.15 years of trying. It is fair to say there has not

:18:47. > :18:50.exactly been an avalanche of results. But we are about a fifth of

:18:51. > :18:55.the way there, we reckon. Let's see how that affects Mark Simpson's

:18:56. > :18:59.virtual Assembly. This time five years ago, when we had the last

:19:00. > :19:03.Assembly election, we had no seats elected by this stage, we should be

:19:04. > :19:10.counting our blessings. Let's have a look inside the virtual Stormont

:19:11. > :19:15.chamber. Already, it is only 5:50, but a trend is emerging. Let's look

:19:16. > :19:19.at it. The largest party, as things stand, the DUP. 12 seats so far for

:19:20. > :19:23.Arlene Foster. She will be very happy with that. Some DUP sources

:19:24. > :19:28.say that they are going to be able to match what they got last time,

:19:29. > :19:33.all the way down here, right up to 38 seats. Some of the real optimists

:19:34. > :19:38.are even talking about 30. -- 40. We will wait and see. A strong start to

:19:39. > :19:43.the election also for Sinn Fein. Eight seats so far. Good news for

:19:44. > :19:46.Martin McGuinness in his bid to become Deputy First Minister again.

:19:47. > :19:50.I think First Minister, as things stand, looks out of his reach. What

:19:51. > :19:55.Sinn Fein really want is to fill the bench right up to 30 seats, more

:19:56. > :19:59.than they got last time. They only got 29 last time, they want 30

:20:00. > :20:06.because it gives them a veto, the so-called petition of concern. What

:20:07. > :20:09.about the SDLP? Not so good news for them at the moment. They only have

:20:10. > :20:14.one MLA elected, Patsy McGlone, looking very alone at the moment.

:20:15. > :20:18.Why this is potentially a problem for the SDLP is that if they don't

:20:19. > :20:21.fill a few more seats and get up to around 11, which would be fewer than

:20:22. > :20:25.the 14 they got last time, they might be in danger of missing out in

:20:26. > :20:30.a ministry, that would be very bad news for them. Also on one seat, the

:20:31. > :20:33.other side of the chamber, we have Mike Nesbitt. Maybe a bit smaller

:20:34. > :20:36.than we have seen him before, sitting beside the DUP. The only

:20:37. > :20:52.Ulster Unionist elected, but they got 60 last time. Mike Nesbitt

:20:53. > :20:55.has some work to do, and so does his party. I think we can see the

:20:56. > :20:58.pattern, the trend. The two big beasts are in a very strong

:20:59. > :21:00.position, as we enter the last two thirds of the election. What about

:21:01. > :21:04.the other parties? That, believe it or not, is Naomi Long, she is back

:21:05. > :21:07.at Stormont. It's the first of what The Alliance Party hopes is at least

:21:08. > :21:10.eight. That is what they got last time. They will have company on the

:21:11. > :21:18.backbenches. Aside Naomi Long, a virtual Gerry Carroll, who topped

:21:19. > :21:25.the poll in West Belfast for People Before Profit. A quick look, 24

:21:26. > :21:29.seats, more than a fifth of the MLAs have been elected. One more

:21:30. > :21:33.statistic for you, I'm told of the 24 elected so far, at least seven

:21:34. > :21:43.are women, but there is plenty of room for plenty more. 24 of the 108

:21:44. > :21:48.returned, as Mark was telling us, which is interesting in itself. I

:21:49. > :21:52.think, more interesting than that, now we have the first preferences

:21:53. > :21:57.from all 18 constituencies. That is significant, because we cannot talk

:21:58. > :21:59.about the share of the vote across Northern Ireland and change. Mark

:22:00. > :22:11.Devenport is here. Let's look at this graphic. Mark, talk us through

:22:12. > :22:17.this. No huge surprises, but I think it merits a bit of explanation? A

:22:18. > :22:20.lot of talk about who would be the biggest party. That was in terms of

:22:21. > :22:25.seats, most people were talking about. It was possible, because in

:22:26. > :22:33.the local elections and the European elections, Sinn Fein outpolled the

:22:34. > :22:37.DUP. You could have had a election were Sinn Fein would have the

:22:38. > :22:40.highest percentage of the vote, but the DUP with more seats. You can see

:22:41. > :22:47.that the DUP have held onto their lead. Behind them, the other

:22:48. > :22:54.parties. It is not that the DUP vote has grown. If we show the change's

:22:55. > :22:58.If I hit the button hard enough. All of the established parties are on

:22:59. > :23:07.the way down. The DUP has lost nearly a percentage of the vote.

:23:08. > :23:11.Sinn Fein are down 3%. That reflects the fact that in the heartlands they

:23:12. > :23:17.are losing votes to the likes of People Before Profit and some

:23:18. > :23:20.independents. Just to show the vagaries of the system, we are

:23:21. > :23:23.talking about it being a good election for Sinn Fein in terms of

:23:24. > :23:26.target seats, they are hitting them and holding onto them, they are

:23:27. > :23:33.ready to make gains, they have taken a bigger percentage for than the

:23:34. > :23:37.SDLP, but the SDLP appear to be probably the ones that will come out

:23:38. > :23:44.worst in terms of seats. That is worth bearing in mind. Whilst Nigel

:23:45. > :23:48.Dodds has been talking about the DUP successes, the Ulster Unionists not

:23:49. > :23:51.having successes, it terms of shares of the vote, the Ulster Unionists

:23:52. > :23:59.have fallen back slightly less than the DUP. There is the electoral

:24:00. > :24:06.system for you. So, you were joking earlier about Mike Nesbitt being

:24:07. > :24:11.only up 0.9 at the locals, you are down 0.8? I wasn't making any

:24:12. > :24:16.claims. I know, it is funny. The important thing is not the overall

:24:17. > :24:20.vote, unlike the Euro elections, we are a number of constituencies and

:24:21. > :24:23.that is where you marshal your votes and get the seats. One of the

:24:24. > :24:29.interesting things we are looking at is, it is the first time since 2007

:24:30. > :24:35.in terms of the number of votes, we are on 202,000 votes, the first time

:24:36. > :24:39.since 2007 we have broken the 200,000 vote mark. That is very

:24:40. > :24:43.significant. You can have percentages, but in real terms, more

:24:44. > :24:50.people are voting DUP for the first time since 2007. It is quite a

:24:51. > :24:55.remarkable election for us. The percentage, it seems there are more

:24:56. > :25:00.voters around? Ever so slightly. We are having a very good election, up

:25:01. > :25:04.12.6%, for the Ulster Unionists, for a party that is supposed to be

:25:05. > :25:09.resurgent, this is a pretty disastrous election. Let's get a

:25:10. > :25:16.quick reaction from everybody else. Stephen, we have not heard from you

:25:17. > :25:19.for a while. Down 0.7%, it is seat numbers that counts, everybody

:25:20. > :25:23.understands that, but you would rather have been up, when I was

:25:24. > :25:27.talking to people like yourself, David Ford and Naomi Long, they were

:25:28. > :25:32.saying this is the breakthrough, and it is not? Everybody in an election

:25:33. > :25:35.campaign is looking to make gains. We have run more candidate in

:25:36. > :25:38.previous times. We have placed them strategically and tried to make the

:25:39. > :25:45.breakthroughs. We have come back with what we have started off with.

:25:46. > :25:51.In the context, the established mainstream parties are experiencing

:25:52. > :25:56.a drop in support, we have marshalled to retain or eight. Has

:25:57. > :26:01.been a scramble, you have retain seats but scrambling for them more

:26:02. > :26:04.than five years ago? Absolutely not. The candidates returned, it is a

:26:05. > :26:08.reflection of the fact that we are managing this in different ways. We

:26:09. > :26:12.are trying to maximise the numbers we can get returned, over the course

:26:13. > :26:16.of the coming counts. There is no question over the eight seats. They

:26:17. > :26:21.are all going to be returned comfortably. We have actually

:26:22. > :26:29.achieved our best ever result since the Assembly was established. We are

:26:30. > :26:33.making some real statements, particularly in east Belfast. Let's

:26:34. > :26:40.see what the seat tally is, that will be the real stat. Sinn Fein,

:26:41. > :26:47.Mark making the point that it has to be the case that People Before

:26:48. > :26:54.Profit has eaten into overall score? We will have to see, we will have to

:26:55. > :26:58.add this to our increased tally in the general election. Nevertheless,

:26:59. > :27:02.we were all predicting, everybody was predicting, on the doors we were

:27:03. > :27:06.engaging that there was a kind of switching off, this was not the most

:27:07. > :27:09.energetic election campaign, I don't think it will come as a great

:27:10. > :27:13.surprise that the turnout is down, and therefore some of the votes are

:27:14. > :27:16.down. The critical thing is that we are looking to make gains in some

:27:17. > :27:21.constituencies. We are confident we will make a number of gains, and in

:27:22. > :27:28.some we have had positive victories. It is important and it would be

:27:29. > :27:36.wrote -- remiss not to take note. The SDLP down 2.6%? I thought it was

:27:37. > :27:40.less than that, it isn't a great result and we haven't had much time

:27:41. > :27:43.to turn it around. I think the sham fight has been turned into an art

:27:44. > :27:50.form, the duopoly is putting people off. The 15% of other, the fact the

:27:51. > :27:54.nationalist vote is 5% down, I think it shows that identity is less

:27:55. > :27:59.binary and will be more fluid. That will be an interesting dynamic.

:28:00. > :28:02.Thank you. A few hours into the results coverage, it has already

:28:03. > :28:06.thrown up some drama, familiar faces under threat of losing seats and the

:28:07. > :28:12.toppling of the poll in West Belfast of People Before Profit's Gerry

:28:13. > :28:16.Carroll. The challenge of the UUP against the DUP has not really taken

:28:17. > :28:21.off and Sinn Fein has appeared to lose some votes to independent

:28:22. > :28:27.candidates. It is set to be a fascinating evening. Please join us

:28:28. > :28:29.on BBC Two at 7pm, after the news. Until then, goodbye.