Mr Robert McCartney's Westminster seat could be in danger if the Ulster Unionist Party repeats its Assembly election performance in North Down. The United Kingdom Unionist Party leader topped the poll with more than 3,000 votes to spare, but otherwise his constituents voted for pro-agreement candidates. The UUP took three seats, and the Alliance Party and the Women's Coalition each took one.
There were emotional scenes on Saturday afternoon as Ms Jane Morrice of the Women's Coalition secured the last seat ahead of the DUP's Mr Alan Graham, with the help of 1,800 transfers from the SDLP's Ms Marietta Farrell.
"We're allowed to cry," she said as bemused DUP supporters looked on, wondering what was happening to politics.
Ms Morrice said later that her election was particularly significant as it emphasised that the Women's Coalition crosses the sectarian divide. She is a Protestant, while the party's other successful candidate, Ms Monica McWilliams, is a Catholic.
The UUP emerged as the largest party in North Down, giving it a higher percentage vote than that of the UKUP and DUP combined, and grounds for optimism that Mr McCartney could be unseated in the next Westminster poll.
But the UUP's success in North Down was spoiled by a miserable performance in the neighbouring unionist stronghold of Strangford, where the DUP's Mrs Iris Robinson topped the poll ahead of the sitting MP, Mr John Taylor, deputy leader of the UUP.
Mr Taylor's claims early on Friday, that the UUP would have the last laugh when better vote management would secure his party three seats ahead of the DUP's two, failed to stand up. Mr Cedric Wilson of the UKUP took the last seat in a nail-biting finish, making the final result (2 UUP, 2 DUP, 1 Alliance, 1 UKUP) a tie between the pro- and anti-agreement sides.
Both counts at Bangor Castle Leisure Centre were marked by bitterness and rancour among rival unionist camps. Mr Taylor was jeered and heckled by DUP and UKUP supporters on Friday. On Saturday a false rumour that the PUP's Mr Billy Hutchinson had failed to secure a seat in North Belfast brought unbridled glee to the faces of DUP supporters. "Oh, he'll be just sick", said one.
