Talk Elections

To be unlocked at 10pm - they'll presumably be counting later than that, but that's not the point.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13302756

For some uh...light entertainment.

General rumours/reports of the UUP performing poorly.

Rumour that Mr Robinson may top the poll in Belfast East.

Anno Lo (Alliance) may top poll in Belfast South.

SF reported to be outdoing SDLP in South Down and heavily so in Fermanagh-S Tyrone.

Dawn Purvis (i-E Belfast) not expected to make it.

Jim Allister (TUV) said to be likely to take a seat in Antrim N.

UUP struggling all over - might not take a seat in North Down at all.

David McClarty (i, Deselected UUP) might take a seat at UUP expense in Derry East, also leaving the UUP seatless there.

Alliance looking at a gain in East Belfast.

SF look like they may gain a seat in Upper Bann from the UUP.

Suggested that more than a few SF transfers in West Belfast are going to the DUP rather than SDLP.

...And reports of vice-versa happening in West Tyrone (!)

Will have to be seen in the results to be believed, for me.

UUP's seat in South Down in danger.

Apparently UKIP have done well in South Down.

()

Wait, South Down? Wtf? Star candidate?

Possibility of SF gain in North Belfast.

UUP struggling in South Belfast, possible DUP gain.
SDLP second seat might be in danger there as well.

BBC report that count staff in Fermanagh have requested hairdryers as quite a few ballots appear to have somehow gotten wet.

4th SF seat in Mid Ulster a possibility, likely to be competing with UUP and TUV for the final seat.

Listening to the BBC NI livestream. Mostly because I just happen to find Ulster accents quite beautiful.

Nope. Same candidate as last time (2.7% in 2007).
Possibly benefitting from the UUP's apparent general downturn.



We are a lovely sounding lot :D

Say 'punk'.

:P

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Have to go now, would've expected substantially more progress than this so far.
:(

Well this is dull.

And we finally have some first counts!

But the BBC has decided in their infinite wisdom not to publish them in a usable format, so I don't have them.

First Declaration in NI today...

First Count in Newry & Armagh
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Should be a fairly straightforward 3 SF, 1 UUP, 1 SDLP, 1 DUP

Rather poor vote split by SF, but one presumes the Murphy surplus will wind it's way to Brady over the coming counts.

First count declared in Upper Bann.

SF's John O'Dowd elected, but I haven't found the numbers yet.

Is there anywhere with a sensible presentation of the results?  I'm sure last time I used RTE, who understand STV, but their link seems to go to the BBC.

()

SF look well placed to gain a second seat.
Delores Kelly in danger of losing the SDLP seat.
Definitely 1 UUP seat, whether there's a second depends on the lower candidates not displayed.

I'll have to keep looking.

Derry East - First Count

Quota: 4,961

6,319 Gregory Campbell* (DUP)
4,681 Cathal Ó hOisín (SF)
3,855 George Robinson* (DUP)
3,003 David McClarty* (i)
2,967 John Dallat* (SDLP)
2,639 Bernadette Archibald (SF)
2,633 Adrian McQuillan* (DUP)
2,222 Thomas Joseph Conway (SDLP)
1,905 Barney Fitzpatrick (Alliance)
1,568 Boyd Douglas (TUV)
1,472 Lesley Macaulay (UUP)
1,458 David Harding (UUP)


Campbell (DUP) elected.
Count 2 is the distribution of his surplus.

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Looks like McClarty (deselected former UUP MLA) will hold his seat.
The UUP decision to run 2 candidates continues to boggle.

The first 5 candidates here should be fine, that last seat will presumably be DUP v UUP, to be determined by TUV and Alliance transfers.

Lagan Valley - First Count

Turnout: 52.4%
Quota: 5,070

7,329 Edwin Poots (DUP)
5,771 Basil McCrea (UUP)
4,389 Trevor Lunn (Alliance)
4,352 Paul Givan (DUP)
4,263 Jonathan Craig (DUP)
2,910 Brenda Hale (DUP)
2,165 Pat Catney (SDLP)   
1,482 Mark Hill (UUP) 
1,203 Mary-Kate Quinn (SF)     
1,031 Lyle Rea (TUV) 
   592 Conor Quinn (Green)

Poots (DUP) and McCrea (UUP) elected.
Count 2 is the Poots surplus distribution.

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Looks like as expected the DUP will gain the outgoing SF seat here - mostly because of a boundary change.

Catney (SDLP) might be able to narrow that gap on Hale (DUP) for the last seat, but the gap and nature of transfers to come means he'd need to be more than lucky to overturn the difference.

South Down - First Count

Quota: 5,961

8,506 Margaret Ritchie* (SDLP)
5,955 Caitríona Ruane* (SF)
5,200 Jim Wells* (DUP)
4,409 John McCallister* (UUP)
3,882 Willie Clarke* (SF)
3,758 Karen McKevitt (SDLP)
3,050 Naomi Bailie (SF)
2,663 Eamonn O'Neill (SDLP)
2,332 Henry Reilly (UKIP)
1,107 Cadogan Enright (Green)
   864 David Griffin (Alliance)

Ritchie (SDLP leader) elected.
Count 2 is the distribution of her surplus.

Should be fairly straightforwardly 2 SDLP, 2 SF, 1 DUP, 1 UUP.

Nevermind a sensible presentation, any presentation would be nice.

BBC online seem unaware of any declarations so far.
UTV online have only provided a couple of screenshots, like I've posted.

None of the northern newspaper sites have any much coverage (BelTel have nothing. The NewsLetter have a pretty poor live blog.)

None of the radio stations ahve anything much.

Slugger has a live blog, but no complete details of count declarations. Looks like the liveblog is ending now in a few minutes anyway.

None of the Republic's media have substantial detals on numbers.

Which leaves whatever one can pick up from twitter.

I'm pulling the above numbers from listening in on BBC Radio Ulster (but it's quite rushed, so I may have some errors).

Farce continues...

Foyle going to recount - initial count disagreed with earlier count on ballots.

Fermanagh-South Tyrone count delayed because one of the tables holding votes collapsed sending ballots everywhere.

Box mix up in Antrim North between referendum and Assembly votes has delayed things there as well.

UTV (http://www.u.tv/Election2011/Constituencies.aspx) have started putting up constituency counts declared so far.

lol

Looking at the lesser votes (2,800 for the Alliance, 1,000 for TUV) in Upper Bann, it will likely be touch and go between UUP and SDLP for the final seat.

UKIP vote in South Down has doubled since 2007 - up to 5.6%

Green vote there falls from 3.5% to 2.7%

Foyle - First Count

Quota: 5,550

7,154 William Hay* (DUP)
6,950 Martina Anderson* (SF)
4,970 Mark H. Durkan (SDLP)
3,638 Raymond McCartney* (SF)
3,138 Pat Ramsey* (SDLP)
3,120 Eamonn McCann (People Before Profit)
2,967 Colum Eastwood (SDLP)
2,624 Pól Callaghan (SDLP)
2,612 Paul Fleming (SF)
1,280 Paul McFadden (i)
   334 Keith McGrellis (Alliance)
     60 Terry Doherty (i)

Safely 2 SDLP, 2 SF, 1 SF.
Final seat will be SDLP v People Before Profit.
SDLP to be initially favoured - but the surplus of Hay (DUP) and the distribution of McFadden's (i) votes will be important.

South Antrim - First Count

Quota: 4,595

4,844 Paul Girvan* (DUP)
4,662 Mitchel McLaughlin* (SF)
4,607 Trevor Clarke* (DUP)
4,554 David Ford* (Alliance)
3,406 Thomas Burns* (SDLP)
3,145 Danny Kinahan* (UUP)
2,866 Pam Lewis (DUP)
2,285 Adrian Cochrane-Watson (UUP)
1,091 Mel Lucas (TUV)
   404 Stephen Parkes (BNP)

Girvan, McLoughlin and Clarke elected.
Count 2 is the elimination of the BNP and TUV.

Ford will safely make it. Kinahan (UUP) should be safe following the elimination of his running-mate.

So it will be Burns (SDLP) v Lewis (DUP) for the final seat. DUP look like they should be favoured to win and so a straight gain from the SDLP.

Strangford - First Count

Quota: 4,239

4,573 Michelle McIlveen* (DUP)
4,284 Kieran McCarthy* (Alliance)
4,265 Jonathan Bell* (DUP)
3,456 Simon Hamilton* (DUP)
3,273 Mike Nesbitt (UUP)
2,773 David McNarry* (UUP)
2,525 Joe Boyle (SDLP)
2,175 Billy Walker (DUP)
   902 Mickey Coogan (SF)
   841 Terry Williams (TUV)
   601 Cecil Andrews (UKIP)

McIlveen, McCarthy and Bell elected.

Disappointing result for the SDLP - would need unionist transfers to mess up badly in order to gain the 6th seat. Looks like UUP and DUP for the last seat - with UUP to be somewhat favoured to win and so gain from DUP here.

Lagan Valley & South Down counts suspended for the night.

South Down completed the distribution of the Ritchie surplus - which elected Ruane (SF), but I've not been able to find full figures.

BBC online seem to have now noticed that counts have been declared in NI - slowly getting figures up.

Seats so far...
7 DUP
6 SF
2 SDLP
2 UUP
1 Alliance

18/108 seats filled

Belfast North - First Count

Quota: 4,782

6,674 Gerry Kelly* (SF)
5,200 Nelson McCausland* (DUP)
4,025 Alban Maginness* (SDLP)
3,724 William Humphrey* (DUP)
3,488 Paula Bradley (DUP)
2,999 Carál Ní Chuilín* (SF)
2,758 Fred Cobain* (UUP)
2,096 Billy Webb (Alliance)
1,176 Raymond McCord (i)
   998 JJ Magee (SF)
   332 John Lavery (Workers')

Kelly and McCausland elected.
Alliance have almost quadrupled their vote.

2nd SF and DUP seats safe, as is the SDLP.

Will be Cobain (UUP) chasing Bradley (DUP) for the final seat. Cobain will need a good share of the Alliance and McCord transfers to overturn hat deficit.

South Belfast - First Count

Quota: 4,616

6,390 Anna Lo* (Alliance)
4,527 Alasdair McDonnell* (SDLP)
4,045 Jimmy Spratt* (DUP)
4,038 Alex Maskey* (SF)
3,800 Ruth Patterson (DUP)
3,191 Conall McDevitt* (SDLP)
2,988 Michael McGimpsey* (UUP)
1,394 Mark Finlay (UUP)
   889 Clare Bailey (Green)
   414 Brian Faloon (People Before Profit)
   234 Paddy Meehan (Socialist)
   234 Nico Torregrosa (UKIP)
   135 Paddy Lynn (Workers')
     29 Samuel Charles Smyth (Procapitalism)

Anna Lo (Alliance) re-elected. Her surplus (1,774) will now be distributed.

Good result for the DUP, not so good for the SDLP.
Looks like Patterson (DUP) v McDevitt (SDLP) for the final seat. Lo's surplus could be important here.

Procapitalism increased it's vote by about a third. No doubt they'll be delighted.

North Down - First Count

Quota: 4,015

5,175 Alex Easton* (DUP)
3,741 Gordon Dunne (DUP)
3,496 Peter Weir* (DUP)
3,131 Stephen Farry* (Alliance)
2,207 Steven Agnew (Green)
2,100 Anne Wilson (Alliance)
1,879 Alan McFarland* (i)
1,765 Alan Chambers (i)
1,585 Leslie Cree* (UUP)
1,343 Colin Breen (UUP)
   768 Liam Logan (SDLP)
   615 Fred McGlade (UKIP)
   293 Conor Keenan (SF)

Easton elected.

Quite unclear what the result here will be.

DUP have done well and will likely see all 3 elected, so a gain for them.
Farry is fine.

The other 2 seats could go to any of Agnew, Wilson, McFarland, Chambers and/or Cree.
Probably one of Agnew/Wilson, and one of the others.

Will go for a semi-random call of Agnew and Cree at this stage.

North Antrim - First Count

Quota: 5,760

6,581 Paul Frew (DUP)
6,152 Daithí McKay (SF)
6,083 Mervyn Storey (DUP)
4,061 Jim Allister (TUV) 
3,682 Declan O'Loan (SDLP)
3,275 David McIlveen (DUP)
3,256 Evelyne Robinson (DUP)
2,518 Robin Swann (UUP)
2,189 Bill Kennedy (UUP)
1,848 Jayne Dunlop (Alliance)
   668 Audrey Patterson (TUV)  

Frew, McKay and Storey elected.
3rd DUP seat a certainty.

Allister likely to take a seat.

O'Loan (SDLP) v Swann (UUP) for the final seat most likely (unless both can overtake Allister [possible, but unlikely]). The Alliance transfer will be the one to watch here.

Ford (Alliance leader) elected on Count 2 in Antrim South.

Belfast East - First Count

Quota: 4,622

9,149 Peter Robinson* (DUP)
4,329 Judith Cochrane (Alliance)
4,183 Chris Lyttle* (Alliance)
2,668 Sammy Douglas (DUP)
2,436 Robin Newton* (DUP)
2,194 Michael Copeland (UUP)
1,702 Dawn Purvis* (i)
1,493 Brian Ervine (PUP)
1,030 Niall Ó Donnghaile (SF)
   943 Philip Robinson (UUP)
   712 Harry Toan (TUV)
   572 Martin Gregg (Green)
   337 Ann Cooper (BNP)
   250 Magdalena Wolska (SDLP)
   201 Tommy Black (Socialist)
   102 Kevin McNally (Workers')
     46 Stephen Stewart (i)

Robinson elected - in what is clearly an effort by the DUP to make a statement following last year's embarrassment. His surplus to be distributed in Count 2.

Very good result for the Alliance here (as across Belfast). Simple gain here.

Philip Robinson's vote should put Michael Copeland sufficiently ahead of the chasing pack to take a seat, barring Purvis proving quite transfer friendly from Ervine (which it seems is unlikely) and the lower order candidates.

William Irwin (DUP) elected on the third count in Newry & Armagh.

Belfast West - First Count

Quota: 4,950

5,343 Paul Maskey* (SF)
5,239 Jennifer McCann* (SF)
4,489 Fra McCann* (SF)
4,116 Sue Ramsey* (SF)
3,765 Alex Attwood* (SDLP)
3,723 Pat Sheehan* (SF)
2,587 Brian Kingston (DUP)
1,661 Gerry Carroll (People Before Profit)
1,471 Bill Manwaring (UUP)
   802 Colin Keenan (SDLP)
   589 John Terence Lowry (Workers')
   384 Pat Lawlor (Socialist)
   365 Dan McGuinness (Alliance)
   122 Brian Pelan (i)

Maskey and McCann elected.
The first 4 SF and Attwood are safe.

And Pat Sheehan should take the last seat for SF which would result in no change here.
Brian Kingston should narrow the gap but one presumes the PBP final transfer will put the nail in that coffin.

14/18 first counts in...

Seats
13 DUP
10 SF
  3 Alliance
  2 SDLP
  2 UUP

30/108 seats filled

Mid Ulster - First Count

Quota: 6,106

8,957 Martin McGuinness* (SF)
7,127 Ian McCrea* (DUP)
5,178 Michelle O'Neill* (SF)
5,065 Patsy McGlone* (SDLP)
4,409 Sandra Overend (UUP)
4,263 Francie Molloy* (SF)
2,635 Ian Milne (SF)
2,075 Walter Millar (TUV)
1,214 Austin Kelly (SDLP)
   933 Hugh McCloy (i)
   398 Michael McDonald (Alliance)
   243 Harry Hutchinson (People Before Profit)
   241 Gary McCann (i)

McGuinness and McCrea elected.
McGuiness's surplus distribution comes next - but the count is being suspended for the night.

First 6 should all get elected here. No change on outgoing Assembly.

Tyrone West - First Count

Quota: 5,618

5,992 Barry McElduff* (SF)
5,659 Pat Doherty* (SF)
5,057 Michaela Boyle (SF)
5,005 Thomas Buchanan* (DUP)
4,069 Ross Hussey (UUP)
4,063 Allan Bresland* (DUP)
3,362 Joe Byrne (SDLP)
3,016 Declan McAleer (SF)
1,141 Paddy McGowan (i)
1,100 Eugene McMenamin (i)
   856 Eric Bullick (Alliance)

Doherty and McElduff elected.

Very poor result for the SDLP - but, those 2 independents are ex-SDLP, so they should transfer reasonably well to Byrne. That and the SF votes of McAleer should help.

Given that it's Hussey (UUP) v Bresland (DUP) for the final seat, with but 6 votes between them on Count 1. The Alliance transfers could be important there. I'd imagine Hussey is narrow favourite.

Antrim East - First Count

Quota: 4,147

7,181 Sammy Wilson* (DUP)
3,288 David Hilditch* (DUP)
3,042 Roy Beggs* (UUP)
2,889 Stewart Dickson (Alliance)
2,369 Oliver McMullan (SF)
1,851 Rodney McCune (UUP)
1,620 Gerardine Mulvenna (Alliance)
1,608 Alastair Ross* (DUP)
1,346 Ruth Wilson (TUV)
1,333 Justin McCamphill (SDLP)
1,321 Gordon Lyons (DUP)
   664 Daniel Donnelly (Green)
   511 Steven Moore (BNP)

Wilson elected with a very substantial surplus.
3 DUP, 1 UUP and 1 Alliance given.

Quite unclear where the last seat will go. Any of SF, Alliance, UUP could take it.
Very bad result for SDLP. Previously neck and neck with SF, they've fallen far behind.

Now just Fermanagh-South Tyrone awaiting a first count...

Seats
15 DUP
13 SF
  3 Alliance
  2 SDLP
  2 UUP

35/108 seats filled

Alisdair McDonnell (SDLP) elected on Count 2 in Belfast South.

North Belfast and Upper Bann counts suspended for the night.

Congratulations to Procapitalism on an excellent result.

Something is wrong with the BBC website. Any other places to get results?

BBC online report that FST first count is done with Michelle Gildernew (SF), Tom Elloitt (UUP leader) and Arlene Foster (DUP) elected.

No sign of a full set of numbers.

Anyway... I'm suspending my own involvement now.

Signing off with my haphazard final prediction...

37 DUP
30 SF
15 UUP
14 SDLP
  8 Alliance
  1 Green
  1 TUV
  1 Independent Unionist (McClarty, Derry E)

Well, when you consider how poorly the SDLP candidates in West Tyrone (http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/awt.htm) transferred to each other in 2007, when the party ran three of them when they had barely over a quota and had been dropping (they chose two candidates not including the incumbent MLA (McMenamin) who made a stink so they let him run as an SDLP candidate too (perhaps they figured that otherwise he would run as an independent like he is now)), I wouldn't be so sure about that.  It would take a collective majority of them to put McAleer over Bryne for the fourth nationalist seat (I assume the Alliance vote would go more to Bryne than McAleer), but McGowan ran as as an "Independent Community" candidate back in 1998 so his SDLP-ties may be long gone (although that label might indicate that he is on the other side of the SDLP spectrum from Sinn Féin).  Bryne and McGowan were both elected to the Forum in 1996 which wasn't long after the cease fire that "ended" the Troubles (when was that anyway), and a lot of Stoops back then might be Shinners now, and with animosity bettween McMenamin and his old party from 2007...

I imagine four nationalists will be elected (particularly if Bryne stays ahead of McAleer), but with that constituency you can hardly assume anything (that was the seat where independent Kieran Deeny topped the poll in 2003 on a "save the Omagh hospital" platform; he was reelected in 2004 on transfers from "everywhere" according to Nicholas Whyte).

A cursory look at the results (even UTV aren't giving details of later counts) suggests the SDLP have done quite badly.  Maybe transfers will improve things for them as the counts go on, maybe not.

Yeah. They have more counts in than the BBC though, apparently. Maybe the Beeb is not aware counting is still continuing.

Someone produce me a link with full count details, or I'll travel to NI and blow myself and some Protestants up!

Upper Bann has finished, no change.

South Antrim has finished, DUP gain from SDLP.  :(

South Belfast has finished, no change, so the SDLP held on to both their seats there.

No Nationalist gain from Unionist in South Down: both the UUP and the DUP have a candidate elected.

East 'Derry has finished, ex-UUP independent gain from UUP.

Some of this is painful. In South Down there are only 2 people left in the counts, both SDLP, but of course they can't update it to show that SDLP will pick it up, they need the actual candidate.

Results continue to trickle in.

North Belfast: DUP gain from UUP.
Lagan Valley: DUP gain from SF (due to boundary change)

It's more than a little annoying that I can't find anyone reporting the counts in full. >:(

Fermanagh & South Tyrone now in: SF gain from SDLP

Still waiting:
East Antrim
East Belfast
Foyle now in, no change
Mid Ulster
North Antrim
North Down
Strangford
West Belfast
West Tyrone

Two more results:

North Antrim: Jim Allister (TUV) elected, SDLP losing out. :(  The boundary changes didn't help the SDLP here, but...

Strangford: UUP gain from DUP.  The boundary changes should have given the SDLP a seat here.  Very good performance by Alliance.

Elsewhere, UUP leader Tom Elliott is playing at being a Unionist dinosaur (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13323770).

I see he's wearing a rosette in the colors of a foreign nation. Maybe he just should emigrate there.

I agree with Tom! (http://twitpic.com/4umrd3) Complete and utter, murdering scum.

East Antrim: SF gain from UUP (boundary change, but still a good result for SF; more disappointment for the SDLP).
West Belfast: no change, so still 5 Shinners.
West Tyrone: SDLP gain from Ind, so they avoided being as incompetent as last time.  Also a UUP gain from DUP.

Still waiting on North Down, Mid Ulster and East Belfast, but the latter already has an Alliance gain.

All in at last.

No change in Mid-Ulster
DUP gain from UUP in North Down (Greens hold on)
Alliance gain from PUP/Ind in East Belfast

Overall:
DUP 38 (+2)
SF 29 (+1)
UUP 16 (-2)
SDLP 14 (-2)
Alliance 8 (+1)
TUV 1 (+1)
Green 1 (n/c)
Ind (ex-UUP) 1

The mouthing off about the flag of a "foreign country" (which is what set off the Sinn Féin supporters) is insulting people well beyond the sort of Tricolour-brandishing Shinners who turn up at election counts, and is the sort of thing that even the DUP now avoid saying in public. The nearest analogy in a GB situation would be of a mainstream politician implying that second-generation British Asian voters were foreigners.

But then Tom Elliot has form when it comes to insulting his neighbours; a few years back, when the Fermanagh county Gaelic football team were beaten in the Ulster final (background: Fermanagh are the only county in Ulster never to have won the Ulster provincial title, so reaching the final was a big deal for them), he was quoted in the local paper the following week as being delighted because it put the team's (overwhelmingly Nationalist-voting) supporters back in their place.

I certainly hope your comment is a joke, if not I'd recommend trying to read history BEFORE 1970.

Have you finally located some count details? If so, linky?

Oh, and I hope McClarty stays out of the UUP. ;D

Unfortunately not. The marginality details were nicked from Nicholas Whyte's blog (http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/).

By the by, NI Council Elections are being counted as of this morning.
Haven't been paying too much attention - may come back to them later.

Count-by-count results are in today's Irish Times, although only on the dead-tree version as far as I can see.

It is your duty to post. Also, alert the people at wikipedia.

I will be somewhat preoccupied for the next couple of hours with the quotidian necessities of earning a crust, but I will try to get something up in the form of a spreadsheet tonight or tomorrow.

Wonderful! :D

OK, the spreadsheet is at:

filefactory.com/file/cb3c656/n/NI_Assembly_Elections_2011.xls

You need to put in a h t t p : / / w w w . before that (I can't put in links directly for the moment because of the number of postings).

The figure given in North Down for Easton's transfer to Agnew is -187, so I've made a reasonable assumption as to what it's a misprint for.

Nicholas Whyte at the Ark elections site is likely to have more detailed data in the next few days (fractional transfers, etc.).

Thanks, looking good. :)

What's his issue with East Derry? Does he not like McClarty?

Given where all McClarty's getting transfers from, by the way... maybe he should just end the speculation by joining the Alliance. ;D

Same thing... competing for the same seat really. ;D

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Robert McConnell - one of the 3 men convited of murdering Turnley (and current vice chair of the West Belfast UUP) - failed to get elected to Belfast City Council in today's count.

The pamphlet was just a random find on the internet, of course.

As to the election result: Might not make sense to nominate a convicted UVF murderer if your hopes of election rest on Catholic transfers. Even if he's been a blameless ward chairman for the past nine years.

Detailed results now up at http://www.eoni.org.uk/index/elections/elections-2011/assembly-election-results-by-stage.htm (http://www.eoni.org.uk/index/elections/elections-2011/assembly-election-results-by-stage.htm)

Did anyone else watch Jim Allister make a fool of himself on his first day in the assembly?

Misses one very very obvious factor in the survival of an ultraunionist UUP vote in southwesterly parts of Northern Ireland.... and of course in why Fermanagh is a different country altogether.

I'm surprised APNI ended up with Employment of all things.

Care to share with the less informed of us what that obvious factor is?

Anglicanism.

Here is the spending totals:

UUP - £96,000
DUP - £84,000
SF - £52,000
SDLP - £38,000
APNI - £29,000
UKIP - £18,176
TUV - £6,413
BNP - £3,181
PUP - £310



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14748465