THE first results in the Northern Ireland election count, due by lunchtime today, are expected to indicate conclusively whether voters have held solidly to their traditional allegiances or have spread their support widely among the 23 contesting parties.
As voting ended throughout the North at 10 p.m. last night, party leaders and British officials were heartened by indications that the overall turn out could be better than was predicted earlier this week as the lacklustre three week campaign wound down.
It was unofficially estimated that about 60 per cent of the electorate of 1.2 million may have voted. This would be well below the average for general elections but respectable compared to the collapse of interest which had been feared.
In spite of the harsh weather, there was a steady voting pattern at the 584 polling stations from early morning. The 1,236 ballot boxes were last night taken under RUC guard to eight regional centres for today's count.
The first results are expected at Belfast City Hall, where the four Belfast constituencies are being counted. The first count in each of the 18 constituencies should decide the allocation of two or three of the five seats which each will return, but progress in later counts is uncertain because of the unfamiliar list system which is being used.
The crucial part of the election will come towards evening, after the 90 constituency seats have been determined and election staff set about calculating the parties' aggregate votes to decide on the allocation of a further 20 seats from the topping up regional list. After this is completed, the top 10 parties to be invited to nominate delegations for the all party negotiations will be known.
If, as is likely, Sinn Fein figures in this group, the British government has indicated it will not be invited to attend the talks unless the IRA ceasefire is reinstated.
The president of Sinn Fein, Mr Gerry Adams, who cast his vote in Andersonstown, West Belfast, said. "We are engaged in the election for the stated purpose, as Mr Major outlined it, to get a negotiating mandate. We will receive, in my view, a negotiating mandate. It is now up to Mr Major and Mr Bruton to recognise it."