Counting of votes underway following Stormont Assembly election

The first of the 90 MLAs to be elected are expected to be returned by Friday afternoon.

A general view of votes being counted at the Northern Ireland Assembly Election count centre at Meadowbank Sports arena in Magherafelt in Co County Londonderry (Niall Carson/PA) (PA Wire)

The counting of votes is continuing following elections to the Stormont Assembly.

The verification of ballots began early on Friday morning.

The first of the 90 MLAs are expected to be returned by Friday afternoon but the counting is set to continue into the early hours of Saturday.

Some 239 candidates are running across 18 constituencies.

Democratic Unionist Party candidates for Lagan Valley party leader Jeffrey Donaldson (left) and Paul Givan at Ulster University Jordanstown count centre in Newtownabbey as counting is underway in the Northern Ireland Assembly Election (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Wire)

The first stage of the counts, taking place at centres in Belfast, Jordanstown and Magherafelt, will include an announcement on total votes polled and percentage turnout.

An indicative voter turnout of around 54% was given by the Electoral Office of Northern Ireland at 9pm on Thursday.

They said the figure was based on the average of returns from polling stations which remained open until 10pm.

The indicative turnout ranged from 60% in West Belfast to 47% in the South Antrim constituency.

Ballot boxes are staked at the Northern Ireland Assembly Election count centre at Meadowbank Sports arena in Magherafelt in Co County Londonderry (Niall Carson/PA) (PA Wire)

The turnout at the last Assembly election in 2017 was 64.8%.

The DUP and Sinn Fein are vying for top spot, which comes with the entitlement to nominate the next first minister.

A unionist party has always been the biggest in the Assembly, and previously the Stormont Parliament, since the formation of the state in 1921.

While the office of the first and deputy first minister is an equal one with joint power, the allocation of the titles is regarded as symbolically important.

The Northern Ireland Protocol has cast a long shadow over the election campaign following the resignation of First Minister Paul Givan in February in an effort to force the UK Government to act over the post-Brexit trading arrangements.

This action left the Executive unable to fully function.

A sign on a lamppost outside Larne Port with the words ‘No Irish Sea Border’ (PA) (PA Archive)

While ministers remained in post, they were restricted in the actions they could take.

Unionists object to the additional checks on goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain as a border in the Irish Sea.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson warned on Friday that his party would not re-enter the Executive without government action over the protocol.

He told the BBC: “I’ll tell you one thing, if there’s no legislation in the Queen’s speech and no plans to deal with the protocol then we’ve made it very clear the assembly can’t function if the poison of the protocol is still there.”

But Sinn Fein MP John Finucane said people were more concerned about bread and butter issues.

He said: “I believe the DUP during the campaign outlined a five-point plan as to how they were going to grow our economy, fix our health service and help working families.

“I don’t see how that is possible without an executive – in fact, it’s not possible without an executive.

Five Assembly seats are up for grabs in 18 constituencies.

Northern Ireland uses the single transferable vote (STV) proportional representation electoral system.

The DUP won 28 seats at the last Assembly elections in 2017, just ahead of Sinn Fein which returned 27 MLAs.

Next was the SDLP with 12 seats, the Ulster Unionist Party with 10 seats, Alliance with eight seats, the Green Party with two seats while People Before Profit and the TUV had one MLA each.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood arrives to cast his vote in the 2022 NI Assembly election with his wife Rachael and children, Rosa, six, and Maya, four, in the Foyle constituency in Londonderry (PA) (PA Wire)

This year, the DUP has been regarded as playing it safe, running 30 candidates, while Sinn Fein is running 34.

Meanwhile, the UUP is running 27 candidates, the Alliance Party is running 24, the SDLP is fielding 22, TUV is putting up 19 candidates, the Green Party is running 18 and People Before Profit 12, as is Aontu, while the Workers Party is running six candidates and the PUP three.

The Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the Socialist Party are each fielding two candidates while the Northern Ireland Conservatives, Cross Community Labour Alliance (CCLA), Resume NI and Heritage Party are each running one candidate.

There are 24 independent candidates