The DUP’s progress towards total dominance in unionist politics continued apace as they gained a fourth seat in former UUP stronghold, Lagan Valley, at the expense of Sinn Féin.
The two other seats went to the UUP and Alliance.
Both Edwin Poots of the DUP and the UUP’s Basil McCrea, who received 7,329 and 5,771 first preference votes respectively, had been assured of their seats after the first round on Friday night.
The following day, on the fifth round, they were joined by Jonathan Craig of the DUP, then on the sixth by Alliance’s Trevor Lunn. Paul Givan and Brenda Hale, both representing the DUP, were finally elected on the seventh round.
The swing towards the DUP was in large part due to electoral boundary changes, which saw large numbers of the constituency’s nationalist voters incorporated into West Belfast – a move reflected in the decision by Sinn Féin’s Paul Butler not to stand.
The DUP’s hugely popular Jeffrey Donaldson had also decided not to stand, so as to concentrate on his duties as a Westminster MP.