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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Damien Edgar

Election results - SDLP and UUP fall away in ABC Council area

The votes have all been counted and a clear picture has emerged of the winners and losers in the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon council area.

All 41 councillors have been confirmed for the next four-year term, with 65 having put forward their name as potential public representatives.

The SDLP and the UUP lost out, in keeping with a trend seen in other council locations in Northern Ireland, with an average turnout across the council area of 57.06%.

Read more: Council candidate has hands full as she gives birth ahead of local elections

With an electorate of 155,625, it is perhaps no surprise that counting continued well into Saturday morning, concluding at around 4.30am.

For Sinn Féin and the DUP, it was a continuation of their recent trend, with both gaining seats.

Sinn Fein jumped from 10 seats at the last election to 15, becoming the largest party on the council in the process, but the party remains majority unionist.

The DUP also grew its proportion of seats on the council from 11 in 2019 to 13 this year.

For those moving up in seat numbers though, there were other parties which lost out, namely the SDLP and UUP.

The last election saw the SDLP win six seats, but this time, they returned only one while the UUP dropped from 10 seats to six this time round.

Arguably the biggest loss for their party was chairwoman Jill Macauley who saw her seat slip away in Banbridge.

This was their largest area for vote share last time around with 21.6% but that fell away sharply to 15% this time.

The Alliance Party gained one seat from 2019's showing, jumping from three seats to four.

There was also a seat for the TUV, which didn't have a place in the council last term.

Paul Berry was re-elected as an Independent in the Cusher DEA, with re-election a consistent theme, 22 out of 41 councillors returning for a second consecutive term.

Here's how it all shaped out in the end:

ARMAGH (Turnout 60.48%)

Scott Armstrong (DUP)

Fergal Donnelly (Sinn Féin)

Sarah Duffy (Sinn Féin)

Ashley Mallon (Sinn Féin)

Thomas O'Hanlon (SDLP)

John Óg O'Kane (Sinn Féin)

BANBRIDGE (Turnout 54.16%)

Glenn Barr (UUP)

Ian Burns (UUP)

Joy Ferguson (Alliance)

Paul Greenfield (DUP)

Chris McCartan (Sinn Féin)

Kevin Savage (Sinn Féin)

Ian Wilson (DUP)

CRAIGAVON (Turnout 53.45%)

Robbie Alexander (Alliance)

Kate Evans (UUP)

Jude Mallon (Sinn Féin)

Catherine Nelson (Sinn Féin)

Margaret Tinsley (DUP)

CUSHER (Turnout 63.9%)

Paul Berry (Independent)

Bróna Haughey (Sinn Féin)

Gordon Kennedy (UUP)

Keith Ratcliffe (TUV)

Gareth Wilson (DUP)

LAGAN RIVER (Turnout 60.48%)

Mark Baxter (DUP)

Jessica Johnston (Alliance)

Tim McClelland (DUP)

Paul Rankin (DUP)

Kyle Savage (UUP)

LURGAN (Turnout 53.34%)

Peter Haire (DUP)

Keith Haughian (Sinn Féin)

Peter Lavery (Alliance)

Liam Mackle (Sinn Féin)

Sorchá McGeown (Sinn Féin)

Stephen Moutray (DUP)

Mary O'Dowd (Sinn Féin)

PORTADOWN (Turnout 53.63%)

Paul Duffy (Sinn Féin)

Julie Flaherty (UUP)

Claire McConville-Walker (Sinn Féin)

Lavelle McIlwrath (DUP)

Kyle Moutray (DUP)

Alan Mulholland (DUP)

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