Part 3 Election 2016: Northern Ireland

Welcome back to a special election coverage, council continuing, and we

can bring you up to date with the state of the parties as we stand.

Here we are, 58 and of 108 seats declared, turnout of just over 55%.

This is the share, we do not have the share.

Let's take a round-up of some of the highlights

Here is our political correspondent Stephen Walker.

This is the day when our politicians find themselves in the big picture.

When the Assembly reconvenes there will be some big names

There will be a number of fresh faces sitting

To some, the campaign was dull and interesting.

But the full range of success and failure was on public display.

Gerry Carroll from People Before Profit

was one of the first to be elected today.

Today's result is testament to the political tournament.

This is part of the global phenomenon.

We have seen a rise of Bernie Sanders a socialist in the US.

We have seen the rise of Jeremy Corbyn in Britain,

a socialist as well, and people in West Belfast want this,

and this is what today's result represents.

Another new face will be Joanne Bunting of the DUP.

I am still trying to absorb it, to be honest.

Are you excited about what will happen next?

I am really excited about the challenge ahead.

I am nervous but I am looking forward to what is to come.

East Belfast has another new MLA but a familiar face.

Naomi Long is returning to Stormont after a six-year break.

I'm looking forward to Monday, to getting up to Stormont

and starting the work that we are committed to doing

Today is about the politicians and the election,

but Monday is about the hard work of governing Northern Ireland,

For the DUP and party leader Arlene Foster,

This is a marvellous day for the party

but a really good day for the country as well.

We have had some very, very strong results.

it was a difficult day for the Ulster Unionists.

Before the election, the UUP leader Mike Nesbitt sent himself

a letter saying how many seats the party would win.

You said you would open the envelope, are you up for that?

Is it going to be tonight or tomorrow?

I am staying here for the rest of the count here today

and as soon as the result is declared here tomorrow,

I will come up to the BBC, as long as the rugby is not on.

There was some good news for the UUP

with the election of Jenny Palmer in Lagan Valley.

However, if the Ulster Unionist is feeling disappointed,

that emotion is being shared by the SDLP who are battling

to hold onto seats in Upper Bann and South and West Belfast.

In Foyle, the party is facing a challenge from Sinn Fein

We are under huge pressure with Martin McGuinness coming back,

We have outpolled Sinn Fein, I think that is a huge success.

who are on course to retain the number of seats they won in 2011.

Overall, we are delighted with our performance.

We went into this Assembly election with 29 MLAs

To be given the support of the people to that degree sends

a clear message that the people are charging both us and the DUP

with very prominent leadership positions in the new Assembly

with Michelle Gildernew returning to the Assembly,

but Maeve McLaughlin and Rosie McCorley lost their seats.

The Green Party polled strongly in North Down.

Steven Agnew was standing and the deputy leader

Because it is a PR election, a lot of people are willing to lend us the

number one this time around. In Foyle, People Before Profit's

Eamon McCann polled well. The TUV leader Jim Allister

got over 5000 votes but The first day of counting has

brought a series of new faces, but it will be tomorrow

before the full story We will have more on the winners

and losers in a moment. 828-year-old man is undergoing

surgery. Police say they are a number of lines of inquiry and are

keeping an open mind as to a motive for the attack in west Belfast.

The police say they believe he will pull through.

An eyewitness who didn't want to appear on camera was one

of a number of neighbours who ran to help the

Emergency services arrived a short time later.

This is uncalled for, not wanted and obviously

we have an individual who is very seriously ill in hospital

The police are keeping an open mind as to the motive.

They say they will be in a better position to say

what happened and why if people come forward with information.

A man in his mid-30s, well groomed with a ginger beard,

wearing a blue tracksuit, a hat and leather gloves

Ten weeks after the Republic's general election,

It's a minority government with the Fine Gael leader

He was re-elected to the post this afternoon following a deal

with the second-largest party, Fianna Fail, and independent TDs.

A man's pleaded guilty to murdering another man in Belfast

41-year-old Matthew Goddard was found dead in his living room

in Chobham Street in the east of the city.

37-year-old William Turner, from Glenlea Grove in Belfast,

15 men who were arrested following the funeral of dissident

republican Michael Barr in Strabane yesterday are still being held.

They're being questioned about alleged membership

of the dissident republican group the New IRA.

Mr Barr was shot dead in Dublin almost two weeks ago.

And police say an arson attack in County Armagh

could have led to a row of houses catching fire.

Rubbish and furniture was set alight in an alleyway

in Victoria Street in Lurgan early this morning.

Now the weekend weather forecast with Angie Philips.

It has been a fine end to the week, and things are getting warmer before

the start of next week but first a bit of a transition in the form

of showery rain into tomorrow and tomorrow night.

It brightens up and dries up on Sunday.

Mainly dry for much of the night tonight,

clear spells to begin with but cloud seeding in later.

Temperatures no lower than four or 5 degrees in the countryside.

This batch of showery rain creeps in from the south-east,

tracking north-westwards through the day tomorrow,

Most of the rain in the morning will be in the south,

and pretty wet across the Republic of Ireland.

We will have heavy, potentially thundery downpours

in southern England, Wales and moving into northern England.

Mist on the North Sea coast, and for the rest of England

it is warm and sunny, 23, 24 degrees in the south-east.

That band of showery rain edges its way north,

the breeze generally between 12 and 13 degrees.

We have some potentially heavy and thundery downpours tomorrow night,

but it turns dry and brighter with highs of 19.

That's it from the newsdesk for this evening. Mark.

Let's hear from some reporters out at the counts.

Maggie, I think you have Jonathan Bell with you,

The big news is that the SDLP regained their second seat,

it was nail-biting but Philip Smith got his seat over Joe Boyle,

before David McNarry defected out of the Ulster Unionists.

One of the DUP members is Jonathan Bell.

Three DUP ministers stood - it would have been a disaster

Yes, we nearly got Harry Harvey, son of a very distinguished,

wonderful gentleman, he had a wonderful first outing

I fought with first preference votes in four polling stations against 26,

and we tried to spread the vote as well as we could

But congratulations to my two colleagues and thank

What about Ulster Unionists regaining that seat?

We came back again with the same, although we narrowly missed

who had an excellent first time for us.

Well, counting has finished for the night here, there will be

no need to carry on until tomorrow, because all MLAs has been

returned in the Lagan Valley and South Down constituency.

and if Mike Nesbitt is tuning in, he can turn the volume up.

The Ulster Unionists took two seats, one snatched from the DUP,

The DUP came in with four seats, they leave with three.

The two new UUP faces have a strong record locally,

Robbie Butler, a fireman, and Jenny Palmer, who until recently

was a member of the DUP but left for the UUP.

The other seat was held by Trevor Lunn of the Alliance Party.

Turning to South Down, good news for the

Harold McKee took the seat which had been held by the independent

A largely nationalist constituency, and so it remained.

Two SDLP candidates, Sinead Bradley topping the poll,

Sean Rogers, the co-opted candidate who took over from Margaret Ritchie,

who went to Westminster, giving up her MLA seat.

The other big story in South Down, Jim Wells polled very well,

retaining the seat, and as he reminded people

from the victory podium here, his election means that he is

becoming the longest-serving member of the Assembly.

After 14 hours of counting in West Tyrone, including one

complete recount to find 36 missing ballot papers, 18 candidates have

been whittled down to eight, but still no-one has been elected.

Some of the names still in the mix, Barry McElduff,

Ross Hussey for the Ulster Unionist Party and Tom Buchanan for the DUP

Daniel McCrossan polled well, despite the split in the local party

which saw two councillors standing as independent Social

In South Tyrone we've had Arlene Foster and Maurice

Phil Flanagan, he's gone, he's been eliminated.

He's the victim of what he described as Sinn Fein's risky strategy

of having four candidates in the constituency.

Also the Ulster Unionist Party's Alastair Patterson,

He misses out in favour of his colleague, Rosemary Barton.

But where will the Ulster Unionist transfers go?

Richie McPhillips is counting on them to get the last seat but it is

likely he will come up short. Things are going very slowly,

the last time we had anyone elected Carla Lockhart and Sydney

Anderson have their seats. We have three possible permutations

for where the last four will go. The first is that the UUP take two,

Sinn Fein takes one, and Dolores Kelly holds

onto her seat. The next is that the UUP takes two

and Dolores Kelly Bit of a straw in the wind,

but the UUP could lose the seat, and that is predicated on the notion

that the smaller Unionist parties that will be eliminated wouldn't

transfer to the second Unionist With nine candidates still in place,

the PUP's Sophie Long has William Irwin topped

the poll for the UUP, We expect Conor Murphy and Justin

McNulty to take the seats. Seven candidates in play with three

to fill, so we will keep going here in Newry and Armagh

for the time being. STUDIO: Fascinating tussle

taking place up in Foyle. I don't think you could have made up

a better script, could you, in terms

of a nail-biting finish? The count is continuing

here and in the last half hour or so, Raymond McCartney,

the former hunger striker Perhaps surprisingly for many

people, Martin McGuinness has not yet been elected,

but we are told that he is only a handful of votes away and that

should happen in due course. Transfers being mentioned are 16,

so he is within touching distance. We know as far as the SDLP

are concerned, disappointment for them, in that Gerard Diver

has been eliminated. They will go down to

two seats level. Disappointment amongst Sinn Fein,

they had been going for three seats in this election,

the SDLP had been trying to hold A fascinating tussle

has been the stunning performance of Eamon McCann,

the veteran campaigner, and he is expected to be

elected pretty soon, He's been trying to get elected

to Stormont since 1969 and he now Let's hear from Will Leach,

who can bring us up-to-speed with What is happening right now

is very little. The main leisure centre

hall here lies quiet. In one half the chairs have been

stacked away, tables In the far half everything

is still looking like it's South Antrim is finished,

East Antrim is not. Declan Kearney taking over

from Mitchel McLaughlin. And Steve Aiken for the Ulster

Unionists. The wags have had a go at the fact

that Steve Aiken is a former Royal Navy submarine captain,

every joke in the book, he surfaced in time to take the seat,

he is submerged and is in safe Perhaps my favourite, perhaps -

it's time he tried the periscope. Yes, they are all laughing,

but not in East Antrim where they need to be back

in the morning to get Roy Beggs just through for

the Ulster Unionist Party. Stewart Dickson is hopeful

of the fourth seat. Alastair Ross of the DUP,

Noel Jordan of Ukip is still determined to win that seat,

Oliver McMullan of Sinn Fein, But there is really

only me here now. Plenty of activity still here

in Ballymena, on the far side of the hall, North

Antrim being counted. Down below me, a real

battle in Mid Ulster. Early in the day Sinn Fein's Ian

Milne topped the poll, followed home by his colleagues

Michelle O'Neill and Linda Dillon. Patsy McGlone also

getting first preference. We had a long delay until an hour

ago when Sandra Overend Now a real story, a real battle

between two DUP candidates. The sitting MLA and the new kid

on the block, Keith Buchanan. Sandra Overend's transfers

are being counted and at the moment Keith Buchanan is 700 votes ahead,

the smart money would be on him. Ian McCrea looks likely

to lose his seat but nothing confirmed yet until those

transfers are counted. In North Antrim, also

a fascinating story. We do know that Jim Allister is in,

but he couldn't bring his running We expect Mervyn Storey

and Phillip Logan to follow them. That means David McIlveen

has lost his seat. Robin Swann, high-profile

for the Ulster Unionists North Antrim, we are likely to be

back in the morning, And still plenty happening

in the Titanic Exhibition Centre. Still counting, particularly

in the North Belfast constituency, where there are still five MLAs

to be elected. Let's look at West Belfast,

coming down to those last two seats, we might get some word

while we are on air. Very close between Alex Attwood

and Simon Duberry, how do 38 votes in it, and that's what Alex

Attwood needs to take the seat. Very unlikely given the distribution

at the moment. It is going to be down to the wire,

it really is. But given the last transfers

from Rosie McCorley, I can't see Alex Attwood getting

the 38 votes that he needs. I imagine this will go to Frank

McCoubrey. Interestingly, Arlene Foster

is still here, and it does have the feeling that she is hanging

around for her candidate Very much so, if you look at Belfast

as a whole it is a microcosm of the rest of Northern Ireland,

where the nationalist vote has gone down and the Unionist

vote has gone up. Couple of gains for the DUP,

a great campaign for Prior to this, Mike Nesbitt's

problem was he had two seats. Now it looks like he's

only got one seat. Granted, in East Belfast,

he's managed to grow that, they put two candidates in the field,

that is double the number To have two seats out of 24

is a really serious problem for them, in terms of how

they signal their presence I think after this, it really

is going back to the drawing board, to think from the very basics, how

do we come back from this at all? And Gerry Carroll for the People

Before Profit Alliance, and it looks like Claire Bayley and what

she called her "green And it does not look

like they will take two seats. Unfortunately, it did

not back up for them. I think we can see pictures

of David Ford with Naomi Long, it is disappointing for Duncan

Morrow. He was reasonably high profile. And

he lost out again. The Alliance Party vote has really held up.

They have held the number of seats they had originally

and that is probably what they will end up

Do you think Sinn Fein will be looking over their shoulder at

People Before Profit when they get into the Executive discussions?

Definitely, the two stories, apart from...

The SDLP going from Joe Hendron holding the seat as a Westminster MP

from 92 until 97. 20 years later, they will not even get one MLA

elected. Profound disappointment. We need to trigger a sense of real

crisis about where we go. The interesting thing

is with Eamon McCann and Gerry Carroll, Sinn Fein have

to approach this Executive period with one eye looking

over their shoulder to see the criticism that is likely to come

from the left and it looks like they will go to this Executive

programme with specific policies. That means an agenda in terms

of an anti-poverty strategy perhaps. It really becomes an issue for them

because there will be They will look for opportunities to

criticise their record in the Executive going forward. Is the

leadership of Colum Eastwood indict? Can he regroup?

I remember being a Manchester City fan and somebody said to me,

see those 11 players on the pitch, that is what we have got

and there is nobody down the tunnel, that is the SDLP's problem.

Nobody on the bench. Saying, I would like to do your job.

I think one of the problems is he looks young,

It is almost as though, like Kezia Dugdale in Scotland,

maybe coming in five or ten years too early,

It is interesting to hear your thoughts.

It is interesting to hear from the panel.

Fionnuala O'Connor and wrecked Ilford with Bob Maginnis. Late of

this parish. Former MLA in north Belfast. We're heard from you

briefly at the count centre. Michael Long, who happens to be

the other half of Naomi Long, We will come onto

Alliance in a moment. I want to stay with the SDLP

and the situation in Belfast. I think we were hearing that

Alex Attwood needs something like 38 votes, it is Alex Maskey's seats

being redistributed. You think that would help them. Dawn

Purvis suggests Eddie McGrady might just sneak this.

I do not think it is simply Alex Maskey's surplus

The point is this, it seems to be that there may well be a sufficiency

of votes, therefore Frank McCoubrey is stuck.

He will not get any serious votes from Sinn Fein transfers.