:00:48. > :00:53.Welcome back to a special election coverage, council continuing, and we
:00:54. > :01:02.can bring you up to date with the state of the parties as we stand.
:01:03. > :01:09.Here we are, 58 and of 108 seats declared, turnout of just over 55%.
:01:10. > :01:24.This is the share, we do not have the share.
:01:25. > :01:31.Let's take a round-up of some of the highlights
:01:32. > :01:35.Here is our political correspondent Stephen Walker.
:01:36. > :01:38.This is the day when our politicians find themselves in the big picture.
:01:39. > :01:44.When the Assembly reconvenes there will be some big names
:01:45. > :01:49.There will be a number of fresh faces sitting
:01:50. > :01:59.To some, the campaign was dull and interesting.
:02:00. > :02:02.But the full range of success and failure was on public display.
:02:03. > :02:07.Gerry Carroll from People Before Profit
:02:08. > :02:11.was one of the first to be elected today.
:02:12. > :02:14.Today's result is testament to the political tournament.
:02:15. > :02:18.This is part of the global phenomenon.
:02:19. > :02:21.We have seen a rise of Bernie Sanders a socialist in the US.
:02:22. > :02:25.We have seen the rise of Jeremy Corbyn in Britain,
:02:26. > :02:28.a socialist as well, and people in West Belfast want this,
:02:29. > :02:29.and this is what today's result represents.
:02:30. > :02:41.Another new face will be Joanne Bunting of the DUP.
:02:42. > :02:56.I am still trying to absorb it, to be honest.
:02:57. > :02:58.Are you excited about what will happen next?
:02:59. > :03:01.I am really excited about the challenge ahead.
:03:02. > :03:04.I am nervous but I am looking forward to what is to come.
:03:05. > :03:09.East Belfast has another new MLA but a familiar face.
:03:10. > :03:14.Naomi Long is returning to Stormont after a six-year break.
:03:15. > :03:17.I'm looking forward to Monday, to getting up to Stormont
:03:18. > :03:20.and starting the work that we are committed to doing
:03:21. > :03:26.Today is about the politicians and the election,
:03:27. > :03:29.but Monday is about the hard work of governing Northern Ireland,
:03:30. > :03:34.For the DUP and party leader Arlene Foster,
:03:35. > :03:42.This is a marvellous day for the party
:03:43. > :03:45.but a really good day for the country as well.
:03:46. > :03:49.We have had some very, very strong results.
:03:50. > :03:57.it was a difficult day for the Ulster Unionists.
:03:58. > :04:00.Before the election, the UUP leader Mike Nesbitt sent himself
:04:01. > :04:04.a letter saying how many seats the party would win.
:04:05. > :04:07.You said you would open the envelope, are you up for that?
:04:08. > :04:19.Is it going to be tonight or tomorrow?
:04:20. > :04:28.I am staying here for the rest of the count here today
:04:29. > :04:32.and as soon as the result is declared here tomorrow,
:04:33. > :04:38.I will come up to the BBC, as long as the rugby is not on.
:04:39. > :04:42.There was some good news for the UUP
:04:43. > :04:46.with the election of Jenny Palmer in Lagan Valley.
:04:47. > :04:51.However, if the Ulster Unionist is feeling disappointed,
:04:52. > :04:53.that emotion is being shared by the SDLP who are battling
:04:54. > :04:59.to hold onto seats in Upper Bann and South and West Belfast.
:05:00. > :05:07.In Foyle, the party is facing a challenge from Sinn Fein
:05:08. > :05:12.We are under huge pressure with Martin McGuinness coming back,
:05:13. > :05:21.We have outpolled Sinn Fein, I think that is a huge success.
:05:22. > :05:31.who are on course to retain the number of seats they won in 2011.
:05:32. > :05:33.Overall, we are delighted with our performance.
:05:34. > :05:35.We went into this Assembly election with 29 MLAs
:05:36. > :05:44.To be given the support of the people to that degree sends
:05:45. > :05:48.a clear message that the people are charging both us and the DUP
:05:49. > :05:52.with very prominent leadership positions in the new Assembly
:05:53. > :06:03.with Michelle Gildernew returning to the Assembly,
:06:04. > :06:06.but Maeve McLaughlin and Rosie McCorley lost their seats.
:06:07. > :06:10.The Green Party polled strongly in North Down.
:06:11. > :06:14.Steven Agnew was standing and the deputy leader
:06:15. > :06:31.Because it is a PR election, a lot of people are willing to lend us the
:06:32. > :06:36.number one this time around. In Foyle, People Before Profit's
:06:37. > :06:41.Eamon McCann polled well. The TUV leader Jim Allister
:06:42. > :06:43.got over 5000 votes but The first day of counting has
:06:44. > :06:56.brought a series of new faces, but it will be tomorrow
:06:57. > :07:00.before the full story We will have more on the winners
:07:01. > :07:18.and losers in a moment. 828-year-old man is undergoing
:07:19. > :07:23.surgery. Police say they are a number of lines of inquiry and are
:07:24. > :07:57.keeping an open mind as to a motive for the attack in west Belfast.
:07:58. > :08:03.The police say they believe he will pull through.
:08:04. > :08:06.An eyewitness who didn't want to appear on camera was one
:08:07. > :08:09.of a number of neighbours who ran to help the
:08:10. > :08:16.Emergency services arrived a short time later.
:08:17. > :08:18.This is uncalled for, not wanted and obviously
:08:19. > :08:20.we have an individual who is very seriously ill in hospital
:08:21. > :08:27.The police are keeping an open mind as to the motive.
:08:28. > :08:30.They say they will be in a better position to say
:08:31. > :08:32.what happened and why if people come forward with information.
:08:33. > :08:35.A man in his mid-30s, well groomed with a ginger beard,
:08:36. > :08:37.wearing a blue tracksuit, a hat and leather gloves
:08:38. > :08:49.Ten weeks after the Republic's general election,
:08:50. > :08:54.It's a minority government with the Fine Gael leader
:08:55. > :08:58.He was re-elected to the post this afternoon following a deal
:08:59. > :09:04.with the second-largest party, Fianna Fail, and independent TDs.
:09:05. > :09:08.A man's pleaded guilty to murdering another man in Belfast
:09:09. > :09:13.41-year-old Matthew Goddard was found dead in his living room
:09:14. > :09:18.in Chobham Street in the east of the city.
:09:19. > :09:21.37-year-old William Turner, from Glenlea Grove in Belfast,
:09:22. > :09:29.15 men who were arrested following the funeral of dissident
:09:30. > :09:32.republican Michael Barr in Strabane yesterday are still being held.
:09:33. > :09:34.They're being questioned about alleged membership
:09:35. > :09:37.of the dissident republican group the New IRA.
:09:38. > :09:42.Mr Barr was shot dead in Dublin almost two weeks ago.
:09:43. > :09:44.And police say an arson attack in County Armagh
:09:45. > :09:48.could have led to a row of houses catching fire.
:09:49. > :09:51.Rubbish and furniture was set alight in an alleyway
:09:52. > :09:55.in Victoria Street in Lurgan early this morning.
:09:56. > :09:59.Now the weekend weather forecast with Angie Philips.
:10:00. > :10:03.It has been a fine end to the week, and things are getting warmer before
:10:04. > :10:07.the start of next week but first a bit of a transition in the form
:10:08. > :10:09.of showery rain into tomorrow and tomorrow night.
:10:10. > :10:12.It brightens up and dries up on Sunday.
:10:13. > :10:17.Mainly dry for much of the night tonight,
:10:18. > :10:23.clear spells to begin with but cloud seeding in later.
:10:24. > :10:26.Temperatures no lower than four or 5 degrees in the countryside.
:10:27. > :10:34.This batch of showery rain creeps in from the south-east,
:10:35. > :10:35.tracking north-westwards through the day tomorrow,
:10:36. > :10:40.Most of the rain in the morning will be in the south,
:10:41. > :10:45.and pretty wet across the Republic of Ireland.
:10:46. > :10:47.We will have heavy, potentially thundery downpours
:10:48. > :10:53.in southern England, Wales and moving into northern England.
:10:54. > :11:01.Mist on the North Sea coast, and for the rest of England
:11:02. > :11:06.it is warm and sunny, 23, 24 degrees in the south-east.
:11:07. > :11:10.That band of showery rain edges its way north,
:11:11. > :11:17.the breeze generally between 12 and 13 degrees.
:11:18. > :11:19.We have some potentially heavy and thundery downpours tomorrow night,
:11:20. > :11:33.but it turns dry and brighter with highs of 19.
:11:34. > :11:37.That's it from the newsdesk for this evening. Mark.
:11:38. > :11:41.Let's hear from some reporters out at the counts.
:11:42. > :11:45.Maggie, I think you have Jonathan Bell with you,
:11:46. > :11:54.The big news is that the SDLP regained their second seat,
:11:55. > :12:00.it was nail-biting but Philip Smith got his seat over Joe Boyle,
:12:01. > :12:08.before David McNarry defected out of the Ulster Unionists.
:12:09. > :12:12.One of the DUP members is Jonathan Bell.
:12:13. > :12:18.Three DUP ministers stood - it would have been a disaster
:12:19. > :12:28.Yes, we nearly got Harry Harvey, son of a very distinguished,
:12:29. > :12:30.wonderful gentleman, he had a wonderful first outing
:12:31. > :12:35.I fought with first preference votes in four polling stations against 26,
:12:36. > :12:38.and we tried to spread the vote as well as we could
:12:39. > :12:42.But congratulations to my two colleagues and thank
:12:43. > :12:47.What about Ulster Unionists regaining that seat?
:12:48. > :12:53.We came back again with the same, although we narrowly missed
:12:54. > :13:00.who had an excellent first time for us.
:13:01. > :13:09.Well, counting has finished for the night here, there will be
:13:10. > :13:14.no need to carry on until tomorrow, because all MLAs has been
:13:15. > :13:18.returned in the Lagan Valley and South Down constituency.
:13:19. > :13:28.and if Mike Nesbitt is tuning in, he can turn the volume up.
:13:29. > :13:31.The Ulster Unionists took two seats, one snatched from the DUP,
:13:32. > :13:37.The DUP came in with four seats, they leave with three.
:13:38. > :13:43.The two new UUP faces have a strong record locally,
:13:44. > :13:49.Robbie Butler, a fireman, and Jenny Palmer, who until recently
:13:50. > :13:54.was a member of the DUP but left for the UUP.
:13:55. > :14:00.The other seat was held by Trevor Lunn of the Alliance Party.
:14:01. > :14:04.Turning to South Down, good news for the
:14:05. > :14:10.Harold McKee took the seat which had been held by the independent
:14:11. > :14:20.A largely nationalist constituency, and so it remained.
:14:21. > :14:26.Two SDLP candidates, Sinead Bradley topping the poll,
:14:27. > :14:38.Sean Rogers, the co-opted candidate who took over from Margaret Ritchie,
:14:39. > :14:43.who went to Westminster, giving up her MLA seat.
:14:44. > :14:46.The other big story in South Down, Jim Wells polled very well,
:14:47. > :14:49.retaining the seat, and as he reminded people
:14:50. > :14:53.from the victory podium here, his election means that he is
:14:54. > :15:01.becoming the longest-serving member of the Assembly.
:15:02. > :15:05.After 14 hours of counting in West Tyrone, including one
:15:06. > :15:11.complete recount to find 36 missing ballot papers, 18 candidates have
:15:12. > :15:15.been whittled down to eight, but still no-one has been elected.
:15:16. > :15:18.Some of the names still in the mix, Barry McElduff,
:15:19. > :15:25.Ross Hussey for the Ulster Unionist Party and Tom Buchanan for the DUP
:15:26. > :15:36.Daniel McCrossan polled well, despite the split in the local party
:15:37. > :15:38.which saw two councillors standing as independent Social
:15:39. > :15:44.In South Tyrone we've had Arlene Foster and Maurice
:15:45. > :15:58.Phil Flanagan, he's gone, he's been eliminated.
:15:59. > :16:01.He's the victim of what he described as Sinn Fein's risky strategy
:16:02. > :16:07.of having four candidates in the constituency.
:16:08. > :16:09.Also the Ulster Unionist Party's Alastair Patterson,
:16:10. > :16:15.He misses out in favour of his colleague, Rosemary Barton.
:16:16. > :16:25.But where will the Ulster Unionist transfers go?
:16:26. > :16:28.Richie McPhillips is counting on them to get the last seat but it is
:16:29. > :16:32.likely he will come up short. Things are going very slowly,
:16:33. > :16:35.the last time we had anyone elected Carla Lockhart and Sydney
:16:36. > :16:47.Anderson have their seats. We have three possible permutations
:16:48. > :16:51.for where the last four will go. The first is that the UUP take two,
:16:52. > :16:55.Sinn Fein takes one, and Dolores Kelly holds
:16:56. > :16:57.onto her seat. The next is that the UUP takes two
:16:58. > :17:00.and Dolores Kelly Bit of a straw in the wind,
:17:01. > :17:11.but the UUP could lose the seat, and that is predicated on the notion
:17:12. > :17:15.that the smaller Unionist parties that will be eliminated wouldn't
:17:16. > :17:20.transfer to the second Unionist With nine candidates still in place,
:17:21. > :17:31.the PUP's Sophie Long has William Irwin topped
:17:32. > :17:41.the poll for the UUP, We expect Conor Murphy and Justin
:17:42. > :17:50.McNulty to take the seats. Seven candidates in play with three
:17:51. > :17:53.to fill, so we will keep going here in Newry and Armagh
:17:54. > :18:00.for the time being. STUDIO: Fascinating tussle
:18:01. > :18:08.taking place up in Foyle. I don't think you could have made up
:18:09. > :18:13.a better script, could you, in terms
:18:14. > :18:15.of a nail-biting finish? The count is continuing
:18:16. > :18:20.here and in the last half hour or so, Raymond McCartney,
:18:21. > :18:24.the former hunger striker Perhaps surprisingly for many
:18:25. > :18:31.people, Martin McGuinness has not yet been elected,
:18:32. > :18:35.but we are told that he is only a handful of votes away and that
:18:36. > :18:38.should happen in due course. Transfers being mentioned are 16,
:18:39. > :18:43.so he is within touching distance. We know as far as the SDLP
:18:44. > :18:48.are concerned, disappointment for them, in that Gerard Diver
:18:49. > :18:54.has been eliminated. They will go down to
:18:55. > :18:58.two seats level. Disappointment amongst Sinn Fein,
:18:59. > :19:03.they had been going for three seats in this election,
:19:04. > :19:07.the SDLP had been trying to hold A fascinating tussle
:19:08. > :19:16.has been the stunning performance of Eamon McCann,
:19:17. > :19:20.the veteran campaigner, and he is expected to be
:19:21. > :19:22.elected pretty soon, He's been trying to get elected
:19:23. > :19:31.to Stormont since 1969 and he now Let's hear from Will Leach,
:19:32. > :19:43.who can bring us up-to-speed with What is happening right now
:19:44. > :19:49.is very little. The main leisure centre
:19:50. > :19:51.hall here lies quiet. In one half the chairs have been
:19:52. > :19:53.stacked away, tables In the far half everything
:19:54. > :19:59.is still looking like it's South Antrim is finished,
:20:00. > :20:05.East Antrim is not. Declan Kearney taking over
:20:06. > :20:16.from Mitchel McLaughlin. And Steve Aiken for the Ulster
:20:17. > :20:21.Unionists. The wags have had a go at the fact
:20:22. > :20:26.that Steve Aiken is a former Royal Navy submarine captain,
:20:27. > :20:29.every joke in the book, he surfaced in time to take the seat,
:20:30. > :20:32.he is submerged and is in safe Perhaps my favourite, perhaps -
:20:33. > :20:39.it's time he tried the periscope. Yes, they are all laughing,
:20:40. > :20:41.but not in East Antrim where they need to be back
:20:42. > :20:44.in the morning to get Roy Beggs just through for
:20:45. > :20:52.the Ulster Unionist Party. Stewart Dickson is hopeful
:20:53. > :20:59.of the fourth seat. Alastair Ross of the DUP,
:21:00. > :21:03.Noel Jordan of Ukip is still determined to win that seat,
:21:04. > :21:06.Oliver McMullan of Sinn Fein, But there is really
:21:07. > :21:19.only me here now. Plenty of activity still here
:21:20. > :21:21.in Ballymena, on the far side of the hall, North
:21:22. > :21:24.Antrim being counted. Down below me, a real
:21:25. > :21:29.battle in Mid Ulster. Early in the day Sinn Fein's Ian
:21:30. > :21:32.Milne topped the poll, followed home by his colleagues
:21:33. > :21:39.Michelle O'Neill and Linda Dillon. Patsy McGlone also
:21:40. > :21:43.getting first preference. We had a long delay until an hour
:21:44. > :21:46.ago when Sandra Overend Now a real story, a real battle
:21:47. > :21:54.between two DUP candidates. The sitting MLA and the new kid
:21:55. > :21:59.on the block, Keith Buchanan. Sandra Overend's transfers
:22:00. > :22:03.are being counted and at the moment Keith Buchanan is 700 votes ahead,
:22:04. > :22:09.the smart money would be on him. Ian McCrea looks likely
:22:10. > :22:12.to lose his seat but nothing confirmed yet until those
:22:13. > :22:14.transfers are counted. In North Antrim, also
:22:15. > :22:19.a fascinating story. We do know that Jim Allister is in,
:22:20. > :22:22.but he couldn't bring his running We expect Mervyn Storey
:22:23. > :22:31.and Phillip Logan to follow them. That means David McIlveen
:22:32. > :22:37.has lost his seat. Robin Swann, high-profile
:22:38. > :22:40.for the Ulster Unionists North Antrim, we are likely to be
:22:41. > :22:48.back in the morning, And still plenty happening
:22:49. > :23:00.in the Titanic Exhibition Centre. Still counting, particularly
:23:01. > :23:06.in the North Belfast constituency, where there are still five MLAs
:23:07. > :23:10.to be elected. Let's look at West Belfast,
:23:11. > :23:16.coming down to those last two seats, we might get some word
:23:17. > :23:22.while we are on air. Very close between Alex Attwood
:23:23. > :23:24.and Simon Duberry, how do 38 votes in it, and that's what Alex
:23:25. > :23:30.Attwood needs to take the seat. Very unlikely given the distribution
:23:31. > :23:37.at the moment. It is going to be down to the wire,
:23:38. > :23:47.it really is. But given the last transfers
:23:48. > :23:50.from Rosie McCorley, I can't see Alex Attwood getting
:23:51. > :23:52.the 38 votes that he needs. I imagine this will go to Frank
:23:53. > :23:56.McCoubrey. Interestingly, Arlene Foster
:23:57. > :23:59.is still here, and it does have the feeling that she is hanging
:24:00. > :24:02.around for her candidate Very much so, if you look at Belfast
:24:03. > :24:11.as a whole it is a microcosm of the rest of Northern Ireland,
:24:12. > :24:14.where the nationalist vote has gone down and the Unionist
:24:15. > :24:16.vote has gone up. Couple of gains for the DUP,
:24:17. > :24:19.a great campaign for Prior to this, Mike Nesbitt's
:24:20. > :24:41.problem was he had two seats. Now it looks like he's
:24:42. > :24:45.only got one seat. Granted, in East Belfast,
:24:46. > :24:48.he's managed to grow that, they put two candidates in the field,
:24:49. > :24:51.that is double the number To have two seats out of 24
:24:52. > :25:12.is a really serious problem for them, in terms of how
:25:13. > :25:17.they signal their presence I think after this, it really
:25:18. > :25:24.is going back to the drawing board, to think from the very basics, how
:25:25. > :25:31.do we come back from this at all? And Gerry Carroll for the People
:25:32. > :25:36.Before Profit Alliance, and it looks like Claire Bayley and what
:25:37. > :25:38.she called her "green And it does not look
:25:39. > :25:53.like they will take two seats. Unfortunately, it did
:25:54. > :25:56.not back up for them. I think we can see pictures
:25:57. > :26:04.of David Ford with Naomi Long, it is disappointing for Duncan
:26:05. > :26:19.Morrow. He was reasonably high profile. And
:26:20. > :26:23.he lost out again. The Alliance Party vote has really held up.
:26:24. > :26:25.They have held the number of seats they had originally
:26:26. > :26:27.and that is probably what they will end up
:26:28. > :26:35.Do you think Sinn Fein will be looking over their shoulder at
:26:36. > :26:39.People Before Profit when they get into the Executive discussions?
:26:40. > :26:47.Definitely, the two stories, apart from...
:26:48. > :26:55.The SDLP going from Joe Hendron holding the seat as a Westminster MP
:26:56. > :26:56.from 92 until 97. 20 years later, they will not even get one MLA
:26:57. > :27:00.elected. Profound disappointment. We need to trigger a sense of real
:27:01. > :27:03.crisis about where we go. The interesting thing
:27:04. > :27:07.is with Eamon McCann and Gerry Carroll, Sinn Fein have
:27:08. > :27:12.to approach this Executive period with one eye looking
:27:13. > :27:20.over their shoulder to see the criticism that is likely to come
:27:21. > :27:23.from the left and it looks like they will go to this Executive
:27:24. > :27:29.programme with specific policies. That means an agenda in terms
:27:30. > :27:35.of an anti-poverty strategy perhaps. It really becomes an issue for them
:27:36. > :27:48.because there will be They will look for opportunities to
:27:49. > :27:54.criticise their record in the Executive going forward. Is the
:27:55. > :27:57.leadership of Colum Eastwood indict? Can he regroup?
:27:58. > :28:05.I remember being a Manchester City fan and somebody said to me,
:28:06. > :28:08.see those 11 players on the pitch, that is what we have got
:28:09. > :28:14.and there is nobody down the tunnel, that is the SDLP's problem.
:28:15. > :28:21.Nobody on the bench. Saying, I would like to do your job.
:28:22. > :28:24.I think one of the problems is he looks young,
:28:25. > :28:30.It is almost as though, like Kezia Dugdale in Scotland,
:28:31. > :28:32.maybe coming in five or ten years too early,
:28:33. > :28:48.It is interesting to hear your thoughts.
:28:49. > :28:53.It is interesting to hear from the panel.
:28:54. > :29:05.Fionnuala O'Connor and wrecked Ilford with Bob Maginnis. Late of
:29:06. > :29:07.this parish. Former MLA in north Belfast. We're heard from you
:29:08. > :29:09.briefly at the count centre. Michael Long, who happens to be
:29:10. > :29:12.the other half of Naomi Long, We will come onto
:29:13. > :29:20.Alliance in a moment. I want to stay with the SDLP
:29:21. > :29:27.and the situation in Belfast. I think we were hearing that
:29:28. > :29:32.Alex Attwood needs something like 38 votes, it is Alex Maskey's seats
:29:33. > :29:46.being redistributed. You think that would help them. Dawn
:29:47. > :29:49.Purvis suggests Eddie McGrady might just sneak this.
:29:50. > :29:51.I do not think it is simply Alex Maskey's surplus
:29:52. > :30:03.The point is this, it seems to be that there may well be a sufficiency
:30:04. > :30:11.of votes, therefore Frank McCoubrey is stuck.
:30:12. > :30:22.He will not get any serious votes from Sinn Fein transfers.