Early figures for voter turnout for Northern Ireland's European Parliament election are showing a large drop in the numbers voting.
The initial tallies point to a major drop in turnout on the last European poll of 51.72 per cent, with today’s figures as low as 38.9 per cent in some areas.
Figures are emerging from the King’s Hall count centre in Belfast as the votes are verified ahead of the counting process which is to begin on Monday.
As the first sets of ballot boxes were opened today, the turnout for six constituencies ranged from just 38.86 per cent in Lagan Valley to 52.83 per cent in Mid Ulster.
Anecdotal evidence from around Northern Ireland led to speculation that voter apathy in the wake of the Westminster expenses scandal may have caused voters to stay at home.
The eligible electorate in Northern Ireland is 1,141,979, an increase on the 2004 figure of 1,072,669.
There are seven candidates fighting for the region’s three European Parliamentary seats.
They are Stephen Agnew of the Green Party, Jim Allister of Traditional Unionist Voice, Bairbre de Brún of Sinn Féin, Diane Dodds of the DUP, Alban Maginness of the SDLP, Jim Nicholson of the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, and Ian Parsley of the Alliance party.
With three unionist parties splitting the vote of that section of the electorate, Sinn Féin's Bairbre de Brun is tipped to top the poll.
The Democratic Unionist Party’s Ms Dodds is fighting to reclaim a seat held by leader of the hardline Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) Mr Allister.
Mr Allister won a European Parliamentary seat at the last election standing on the DUP ticket, but he left the party after it opted to enter power-sharing government with Sinn Féin.
Ulster Unionist Mr Nicholson is defending his seat on a joint ticket with the Conservative Party.
And while the SDLP challenger Mr Maginness was seen as an outside bet earlier in the campaign, he has claimed he could seize the final seat from Mr Nicholson.
PA