Tortuous count leads to two DUP gains

Down North: Candidates in the North Down constituency endured a slow and tortuous count, with the first candidate only elected at 3 p.m. yesterday.

The UUP and the Women's Coalition lost a seat each while the DUP gained two, one of which had originally been won by Mr Peter Weir before he defected from the UUP.

A UUP councillor, Mr Leslie Cree, had led the way since the count began, having achieved a first-preference vote of 3,900. But it took 12 counts and 18 hours before he reached the quota of 4,406 votes.

"It's been a long haul," he said afterwards. "But it's nice to be top of the poll on my first attempt for an assembly election."

Ms Eileen Bell of the Alliance looked in danger of losing her seat on the first count, coming in seventh with 1,951 votes. But she was the main beneficiary of transfers from Ms Jane Morrice when the Women's Coalition MLA was eliminated on the 10th count, and Ms Bell finally took the second seat.

Asked if this was the end of the road for the Women's Coalition, a defiant Ms Morrice said: "Absolutely not".

The party would now sit down and consider what it would do next.

The 14th count eliminated the Ms Diana Peacocke (UUP), leaving the last four seats to Mr Alan McFarland (UUP), Mr Peter Weir (DUP) and Mr Alex Easton and Mr Bob McCartney of the UK Unionist Party.