Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster has said she is expecting to be returned as Northern Ireland’s First Minister.
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Sinn Féin lost one seat and the SDLP two, in favour of the smaller parties, while the UUP and Alliance maintained the status quo.
The announcement of the first preference vote counts are due to be made on Friday afternoon but the complicated single transferable voting system used in Northern Ireland for local government elections means that the make-up of the new Assembly will not be known until Saturday afternoon at the earliest.
Mr McGuinness has played down the importance of the job title, given both the First Minister and Deputy First Minister’s jobs wield the same authority.
The DUP’s showing is undoubtedly a strong validation of Mrs Foster’s leadership, coming six months after she replaced the retiring Peter Robinson.
“I have shown that with one MLA you can achieve change, I have brought through a Private Members Bill – the Children’s Bill became law in December – and I led the way in marriage equality bringing forward the first ever motion and forcing parties who didn’t want to talk about the issue”.
Counting has begun in the Foyle and East Londonderry constituencies at the Foyle Arena after yesterday’s Stormont election.
The two seat pick-up by the socialist People Before Profit Alliance was a remarkable feat for a party with no previous representation in the chamber.
PBPA’s Gerry Carroll topped the poll in Sinn Fein’s west Belfast heartland while veteran civil rights campaigner Eamonn McCann won a seat for the party in Foyle.
Four of the district’s current MLAs are bidding for re-election, namely the UUP’s Adrian Cochrane-Watson; the DUP’s Pam Cameron, Trevor Clarke, and Paul Girvan; and Alliance’s David Ford.
“Robin Newton, I think, will be favourite”.
“It was Mitchel McLaughlin of Sinn Féin who held it last time, but there’s no agreement in this Assembly”.
The Green Party also secured two seats in the new mandate, with party leader Steven Agnew and Clare Bailey winning through.
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The SDLP is now the next largest party with 14, marginally ahead of the Ulster Unionist Party on 13.
