South Down:The numbers remain the same and just one face has changed. By the end of the South Down count at the Lisburn Leisureplex, it was still two Sinn Féin, two SDLP, one DUP and one UUP.
Outgoing Sinn Féin MLA Caitríona Ruane topped the poll, closely followed by the SDLP's Margaret Ritchie, although it took until the seventh count for them to be elected.
Ms Ruane, whose running-mate Willie Clarke was also re- elected, was delighted that Sinn Féin's vote was up by 15 per cent on the 2003 Assembly election. She said it was a mandate for her party to go into a powersharing executive on March 26th.
Questioned about the DUP's response that her party had a long way to go before meeting the criteria for government, she said the DUP "should stop prevaricating, stop making excuses".
In what was a poor election in terms of female candidates, Ms Ruane applauded the victories of the few women who made it to the Assembly.
Ms Ritchie, who was rejoined in the Assembly by party colleague PJ Bradley, said it was time to end the "stop-go politics" and get on with government.
Sinn Féin and the SDLP both hoped to gain from Dermot Nesbitt's retirement as UUP MLA. However, his successor, John McAllister, kept the seat. He rejected suggestions that party leader Sir Reg Empey should stand down.
The DUP's Jim Wells, successfully returned as MLA, said that he did not set much store by the March 26th deadline. They had to get it right this time, Mr Wells said, because if the Assembly collapsed again, there would not be another one "for at least a quarter of a century".