26/05/2014 BBC Newsline

look at the papers on the news channel. But

Good evening. Sinn Fein's Martina Anderson has topped the poll in the

European election and retained her seat. The counting is still going

on, and will go until late night before they come back tomorrow

morning at 9am. It was just before 6:30pm when the Chief Electoral

Officer made the announcement of the first preference votes.

The number of first preference votes given for each candidate was as

follows. Jim Allister, Traditional Unionist Voice, 75,806. Martina

Anderson, Sinn Fein, 159,000... Quiet please. 159,000 813. Alex

Attwood, SDLP, 81,594. Mark Brotherston, NI conservatives, 4144.

Ross Brown, Green Party, 10,598. Diane Dodds, Democratic Unionist

Party, 131,000... 130. -- 131,163. Anna Lo, Alliance Party, 44,432.

Tina McKenzie, -- Aspire To Better, 1553. Jim Nicholson, UUP, 83,004 --

8438. Henry Reilly, UKIP, 24,500 and 84. Martina Anderson has reached the

quota and esteemed elected. So let's look at the count figures

in more detail. At stage one of the counts, Martina

Anderson was elected, having passed the quota. Diane Dodds of the DUP

was in second place. Mark Brotherston was eliminated. When it

comes to the share of those first preferences, Sinn Fein are ahead on

25.5%. The DUP or 29.9%. The other parties have a similar vote share.

Compare that to last -- the last election, EP and Alliance have

gained. Sinn Fein have a slight reduction. It took over nine hours

for the first preference results to be confirmed. BBC Newsline's Mark

Simpson has been looking back at events as they happened today Let's

go to the King's Hall now. First to celebrate were the DUP.

They were handing out the bouquets of flowers even before

They were handing out the bouquets result have been announced. But top

of the poll were Sinn Fein, making it a good day for the party on both

sides of the border. Weather-mac absolutely delighted and really

honoured at the number of people who have voted for myself. This is a

truly historic day for our party. Second place with the DUP but they

did increase their share of the vote. We are delighted with the

level of very strong support right across Northern Ireland.

level of very strong support right a good campaign where we were in

every part of Northern Ireland 's full up the Alliance Party also

increased their share of the vote. I'm so delighted, Anna, thank you.

There was a strong performance from the DUP with Jim Allister pulling a

large share of the vote. The counting isn't over yet. Not by

a long way. At the weekends, the TUV's bunting became -- Joe bunting

became the party's first MEP. Her party leader was asked about the

comments she made on Facebook at the election counts. She wasn't an

election result -- representative, she was barely out of school at that

stage. I think many of us have made foolish

comments at various times. The leader of NI 21, Basil McCrea, was

that the count but did not want to talk about his political future.

I cannot say anything because I'm instigating political action. When

lawyers have told me not to speak. It was, at times, a bitter and

heated election campaign, but it ended with a smile.

Tara Mills is at the count centre. 13.5 hours of counselling and still

no end in sight. What's happening here is unprecedented. There has

been a lot of toing and froing going on about how and why the count will

end. With me is our political correspondent. What are the options?

Rapidly, the story of this election is becoming how long this count is

taking to finalise. We are nowhere near an end. It has

been over nine hours before we got the first counts. We have

distributed Tina -- Martina was dash-macro Tina Anderson's surplus.

They're going to come back in the morning and start all over again. It

could be lunchtime, beyond lunchtime, before we know the final

picture. It takes an extraordinarily long time. I asked the Chief

electoral Officer White. It is the nature of the process.

It is a manual process. It always takes a long time. I think it

strengthens the case for a look at a lecture on enclosing and the

introduction of a system that would have enabled us to complete this

process simply in for five hours. We will be taking account of what the

candidates say to me, but it becomes a time when it is and practical --

impractical to continue to count. It could become a danger to people's

health and safety. We have to take into account that people will have

been working perhaps up to 24 hours. That is just not a reasonable ask of

people. I will relive -- re-evaluate things at 11pm. Will there be any

fallout from this? The fallout has already begun.

Nigel Dodds's wife -- he says it's a travesty and questions must be

asked. In the assembly election in 2011, there were three elections in

one day and there was a critical report from the electoral

commission. It's almost inevitable that there will be another

investigation into what went wrong here, because frankly it is not

acceptable. Candidates and the public should not be asked to wait

for so long just to find out the results of an election. Thank you.

We will bring you those results when they eventually do come out. For

now, it's back to you. The biggest loser in the Republic's

European and local elections The biggest loser in the Republic's

been the Labour Party. Its leader Eamon Gilmore is stepping down. Our

Dublin Correspondent Shane Harrison has more on that.

Three years ago, Eamon Gilmore led the Labour Party to its greatest

general election triumph with a 19% vote share. He went into coalition

government with sinning gale. -- Labour's support collapsed - it

seems he had little option. Labour's share of the vote slumped.

Eamon Gilmore came under pressure to resign and he did so.

A critical point for me in making my decision is that the party have to

renew itself. It has a better chance of doing that with a newly. I think

the future of the party needs a new voice at the microphone. Mr Gilmour

will stay on as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for foreign

affairs until his successor is appointed on July four.

With Labour's supports collapsing, it seems he has little option.

But what does that mean for the stability of the coalition? Ella M

labour, with a newly jerk, is going to come under pressure to be more

Independent and assertive under government.

-- with a new leader. It needs to take 2 billion euros out of its

budget. That means further spending cuts and rising taxes. There will be

another general election in which it's quite likely that Sinn Fein

will hoover up Labour's support. Labour isn't the only party that did

badly. I recognise, of course, the

challenges that families and individuals all over the country

have in Ireland. The process has been wearing on them. People are

saying it is time for us to see some return on our sacrifices. That is

what the focus of government will be. The stronger the economy, the

better the outlook. Within the last hour, Martina

Anderson has been elected. Earlier today, Lynne Boylan from Dublin was

also elected. The party is extremely confident that in the next few

hours, or possibly tomorrow their candidates McCarthy will also be

elected. Sinn Fein has had a very good election with local results

trebling its vote share. It is now the single biggest party in Dublin.

Thank you. In other news, two bodies have been

found on an island, in Lough Sheelin in County Meath, in the month-long

search for two Dublin men. 32-year-old Eoin O'Connor and

Anthony Keegan, who's 33, were last seen in Cavan on the 22nd of April.

Gardai suspect their disappearance was connected to the activities of

an organised criminal gang. The Police have not yet confirmed the

identities of the bodies. A man has appeared in court charged

with threatening to kill a man during an alleged racist attack near

Lisburn. Appearing at the city's Magistrates' Court was

twenty-two-year-old Magistrates' Court was

Finn, from Linencourt, Linenhall Street in Armagh. He is alleged to

have attacked his victim along the Lagan Towpath on Saturday afternoon.

He is also charged with having a stick with intent and assaulting a

police office. He was remanded in custody and is due in court again

next week. There's been a real buzz in Bangor

with swarms of bees taking over parts of the seaside town. Just a

few stragglers remained on a garden wall this evening, but earlier today

this swarm, estimated to be made up of 15,000 bees, settled there.

Nearby, a motorist got more than they bargained for when another

swarm took over the front of the vehicle. It's thought they're

looking for a new place to permanently settle, but are said to

be harmless so long as you don't touch them. The weather is next with

Barra Best. Rory McIlroy has moved up to number

six in the world golf rankings following his victory at the PGA

championship at Wentworth yesterday. It was his first win on the European

Tour in a year and a half. Let's get the weather.

An exciting evening for some of us with thunderstorms out there. But it

will be a dry night for us all with temperatures dipping to around nine

degrees. There will be some low cloud, mist and fog developing

before tomorrow morning, so a marquee start. But it will be a much

better day. A lot of cloud but it will be mainly dry. That cloud will

be thick and stubborn to break up in the morning, but gradually it will

brighten up. There will be spelt of sunshine at times. The best of any

sunny spells to begin with, the further south you are. A decent

start for Scotland but by the afternoon showers along the West

Coast, brighter along the east. For many areas of England and Wales,

unsettled with spells of heavy rain. Towards the south-east, temperatures

of 16 or 17 degrees, and cooler further north. Tomorrow, there will

be a few shattered -- scattered showers through the afternoon.

Towards the West, temperatures of 17 or 18 degrees. Cooler towards the

East Coast. Into Wednesday, it will stay unsettled with spells of rain

at times. Not all the time, there will be some dry weather but it will

be a cool day with temperatures at just 12 degrees. For the rest of the

week, we do hold onto that unsettled weather. Some brighter weather to

enjoy below as well. BBC Radio Ulster and News Online continue our

election coverage. Our next