The count of the Assembly Election 2022 has now completed with all 90 seats declared.
The official make-up of the 7th Northern Ireland Assembly is as follows; Sinn Féin has become Northern Ireland’s largest party with 27 seats. The DUP remain the largest Unionist party with 25 seats. The Alliance ‘surge’ became realised with the party now sitting on 17 seats. The UUP return with nine seats while the SDLP suffered a blow and had its seat share reduced from 12 to eight seats. The TUV and People Before Profit both have one seat each and two Independent Unionists have also been elected.
The Alliance Party has made the most gains with 10 new seats in Belfast North, Belfast South, North Down, South Down, East Antrim, North Antrim, Lagan Valley, Upper Bann and Strangford.
In an interview with BBC’s Mark Carruthers, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said that the DUP party officers will decide if he takes the MLA seat in Lagan Valley or continues to sit as an MP, with the decision to be made ‘early next week’.
SDLP deputy Leader and Infrastructure Minister, Nichola Mallon was excluded from North Belfast, losing her seat to Alliance Councillor and former Lord Mayor of Belfast, Nuala McAllister. If a new Executive is not formed in the next week, the SDLP will have to nominate a new caretaker Infrastructure Minister from their elected MLAs.
The Green Party has lost both of its seats and has returned no MLAs to the Assembly including its leader, Clare Bailey in Belfast South. This is the first time the party has had no MLAs since 2007.
Sinn Féin has returned every seat the party had held in the previous 2017-2022 mandate.
Belfast Lord Mayor, Kate Nicholl has been elected to Belfast South. Following signing in as MLA, Ms Nicholl will resign as Lord Mayor and will be replaced for the final weeks of the term, due to end at the beginning of June, by a fellow Alliance councillor. Possible options include Cllr Michael Long of Lisnasharragh DEA, Cllr Michelle Guy of Titanic DEA or Cllr Emmet McDonough-Brown of Botanic DEA.
DUP stalwart, Mervyn Storey, who has been an MLA since 2003, has lost his seat in North Antrim to the Alliance’s Patricia O’Lynn who becomes the constituency’s first female MLA.
17 of the successful candidates are new to the Assembly being first time elected MLAs. A number of these candidates will be leaving their former elected roles at local councils which will see co-options across eight councils including Belfast City, Derry City and Strabane, Causeway Coast and Glens, Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Ards and North Down, Lisburn and Castlereagh and Mid and East Antrim.
The newly elected candidates will be invited to the Assembly to meet on Monday to sign the register and elect a new Speaker. The parties then have seven days to form an Executive. If an Executive is not formed, under the new NI (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern) Act, the Assembly will continue to function and current Ministers could remain in post for up to six months as negotiations take place.
In a statement yesterday, Secretary of State for NI, Brandon Lewis MP stated he will meet with the party leaders ‘over the coming days’ and encourage them to restore the Executive.
Electorate Turnout and full list of Seats Declared – Sunday 8 May
Belfast East – 62.52%
Naomi Long (Alliance)
Joanne Bunting (DUP)
Peter McReynolds (Alliance)
David Brooks (DUP)
Andy Allen (UUP)
Belfast South – 64.36%
Deirdre Hargey (SF)
Edwin Poots (DUP)
Matthew O’Toole (SDLP)
Paula Bradshaw (Alliance)
Kate Nicholl (Alliance)
Belfast West – 64.66%
Danny Baker (SF)
Órlaithí Flynn (SF)
Aisling Reilly (SF)
Pat Sheehan (SF)
Gerry Carroll (PBP)
Belfast North – 61.47%
Gerry Kelly (SF)
Carál Ní Chuilín (SF)
Philip Brett (DUP)
Brian Kingston (DUP)
Nuala McAllister (Alliance)
East Antrim – 60.11%
John Stewart (UUP)
Gordon Lyons (DUP)
Danny Donnelly (Alliance)
Stewart Dickson (Alliance)
David Hilditch (DUP)
East Londonderry – 61.40%
Maurice Bradley (DUP)
Alan Robinson (DUP)
Caoimhe Archibald (SF)
Claire Sugden (IND)
Cara Hunter (SDLP)
Fermanagh and South Tyrone – 69.09%
Jemma Dolan (SF)
Tom Elliott (UUP)
Colm Gildernew (SF)
Aine Murphy (SF)
Deborah Erskine (DUP)
Foyle – 61.64%
Pádraig Delargy (SF)
Mark H Durkan (SDLP)
Ciara Ferguson (SF)
Sinead McLaughlin (SDLP)
Gary Middleton (DUP)
Lagan Valley – 63.19%
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (DUP)
Robbie Butler (UUP)
Paul Givan (DUP)
Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance)
David Honeyford (Alliance)
Mid Ulster – 69.54%
Michelle O’Neill (SF)
Linda Dillon (SF)
Emma Sheerin (SF)
Keith Buchanan (DUP)
Patsy McGlone (SDLP)
Newry and Armagh – 68.49%
Conor Murphy (SF)
Cathal Boylan (SF)
Justin McNulty (SDLP)
Liz Kimmins (SF)
William Irwin (DUP)
North Antrim – 62.51%
Robin Swann (UUP)
Philip McGuigan (SF)
Jim Allister (TUV)
Paul Frew (DUP)
Patricia O’Lynn (Alliance)
North Down – 60.13%
Alex Easton (IND)
Andrew Muir (Alliance)
Stephen Dunne (DUP)
Alan Chambers (UUP)
Connie Egan (Alliance)
South Antrim – 60.03%
Declan Kearney (SF)
John Blair (Alliance)
Steve Aiken (UUP)
Pam Cameron (DUP)
Trevor Clarke (DUP)
South Down - 66.19%
Sinead Ennis (SF)
Cathy Mason (SF)
Patrick Brown (Alliance)
Diane Forsythe (DUP)
Colin McGrath (SDLP)
Strangford – 58.42%
Kellie Armstrong (Alliance)
Michelle McIlveen (DUP)
Harry Harvey (DUP)
Mike Nesbitt (UUP)
Nick Mattieson (Alliance)
Upper Bann – 62.48%
John O’Dowd (SF)
Johnathan Buckley (DUP)
Diane Dodds (DUP)
Doug Beattie (UUP)
Eoin Tennyson (Alliance)
West Tyrone – 66.90%
Nicola Brogan (SF)
Thomas Buchanan (DUP)
Maoliosa McHugh (SF)
Daniel McCrossan (SDLP)
Declan McAleer (SF)