The Ulster Unionist Party suffered another electoral blow as they were reduced to three seats in Belfast City Council — a chamber they once dominated.
While the UUP shipped losses across the board in the local government elections, the damage in Belfast appears most symbolic of its drop in fortunes.
Its pain seems to have been the Alliance Party's gain, as the moderate cross-community party recorded a strong showing in the 26 council poll.
In 582 seats available the DUP won 175, Sinn Féin 138, the UUP 99, the SDLP 87, Alliance 44 with 39 others.
The results following two days of counting were broadly in tune with the weekend outcome of the Assembly election, with the DUP, Sinn Féin and the Alliance faring well as the UUP and SDLP saw support erode.
As the final results came in, leaders of the political parties at Stormont held discussions on the selection of ministers.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he hoped it would be possible to select the new Executive during a meeting of the full Assembly planned for Thursday.
Parties may however opt to put back the process to next week.
The UUP is awaiting a decision by former member David McClarty as to whether or not he will rejoin its ranks, allowing the party to take two ministries and depriving the Alliance of a portfolio.
Mr McGuinness said he hoped the next Assembly term would see a focus on the delivery of policies to help the public.
"I think we can go forward with total confidence that the political process is much stronger now as a result of the elections that we have just gone through," he said.
"What we have to do now is get on with the business.
"What I am concerned about is the big battle that we have to fight. It's not against each other. It's a battle against the recession, against unemployment, poverty. And it's for jobs, for developing our economy and for protecting frontline services and helping the poorest and most disadvantaged within our communities."
The UUP, the once dominant party in Northern Ireland politics, now has just three councillors in the 51-strong city chamber in Belfast. It has prompted claims that the majority of support it does retain in the region is essentially rural in nature.
Ulster Unionist Lagan Valley MLA Basil McCrea conceded the outcome in Belfast was an "appalling result for the party".
"I am very disappointed for those who have lost their seats after giving many years of service," he said.
"The results speak for themselves, we did lose our urban base and that is an issue we have to address and look to see what went wrong.
"The message we were putting out was evidently not one the electoral wanted to hear, I don't think it was the fault of individual candidates." But Mr McCrea refused to single out leader Tom Elliott for criticism. "This is not down to an individual," he said.
"What happened is the collective responsibility of the party." Aside from the travails of the UUP another feature of the city council election saw a return to the chamber of Sinn Fein's Mairtín Ó Muilleoir.
The prominent former councillor who wrote a book about serving in City Hall during the most fractious period in its history became the first Sinn Fein candidate elected in the Balmoral ward in the south of the city.
"In my case the people of Balmoral have made an investment in Sinn Féin, something which they did not make previously," he said.
"It is my intention to give them a return on that investment, in particular by being a voice for small businesses and for jobs."
PA