It’s a case of as you were in Newry & Armagh and Upper Bann constituencies.
Daire Hughes, who replaced Mickey Brady on the ballot paper, saw Sinn Féin over the line quite comfortably.
He won the seat with an increased vote of 22,299, a share of 48.5% – an increase of 7.5% on Mr Brady’s result in the 2019 election.
The SDLP’s Pete Byrne followed behind with 6,806 votes, a 14.8% share.
Gareth Wilson (DUP) came in third with 5,900 votes with TUV’s Keith Ratcliffe taking fourth spot with 4,099.
In Upper Bann, the DUP’s Carla Lockhart increase her party’s share by 4.9% with 21,642 votes.
Sinn Féin’s Catherine Nelson also saw an increase of 5.4%, taking 14,236 votes ahead of Eoin Tennyson’s (Alliance) 6,322 votes. UUP candidate Kate Evans tallied 3,662. Malachy Quinn (SDLP) finished with 1,496 votes.
The overall picture in Northern Ireland is not a pretty one for the DUP who lost Lagan Valley. Jonathan Buckley was contesting the seat previously held by Jeffrey Donaldson. Alliance’s Sorcha Eastwood took that seat.
Jim Allister (TUV) ousted Ian Paisley Jr (DUP) in North Antrim after a 54-year Paisley family hold, while Gregory Campbell, who held a 9,000+ majority in the 2019 election was re-elected by just 179 votes ahead of Sinn Féin’s Kathleen McGurk.
The seat counts are as follows: Sinn Féin (7 – no change); DUP (5 – down 3); Alliance (1 – no change); UUP (1 – up 1); TUV (1 – up 1); Ind Unionist (1 – up 1); SDLP (2 – no change).
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