East Derry:The first count result in the East Derry constituency brought good news for the DUP, but disappointment for the Ulster Unionist Party.
The DUP's outgoing MLA Gregory Campbell, who is also MP for the constituency, easily topped the poll with a surplus of 1,980 votes and was elected on the first count. His party stretched its lead over the UUP on the 2003 Assembly election outcome from 3,322 to 7,219 votes, which puts in danger one of the UUP's two seats in the constituency. The DUP is now poised to deliver on its pre-election promise and win a third seat in the constituency at the expense of the UUP.
Mr Campbell said that given his party's East Derry result and its performance across the North, it was improbable that an executive would be up and running by the March 26th deadline. "I don't think we will have an executive by that date. We require a certain range of things to happen and the government has been aware of our issues for the last six months," Mr Campbell said.
"We need Sinn Féin to be unequivocal in terms of that party's support for law and order and for the police and it's obvious that there is no immediate prospect of that happening at the moment.
"There are so many diverging views within Sinn Féin on police at the moment and that will not enable that party to give the necessary support to law and order.
"In addition, there is no point in forming an executive and going into government unless we get the required financial bonanza or goodwill package from the government so that we can tackle issues such as health, education, infrastructural development and water rates and there are also cultural and marching issues which must be resolved."
Mr Campbell said the likelihood of resolving all of the issues by March 26th was "negligible, but we will press for that, be it March 26th or December 26th".