The votes have all been counted and the winners and losers in Ards and North Down are now confirmed.
In the Ards and North Down Borough Council area, just over 70 candidates were competing across seven District Electoral Areas (DEAs) to elect 40 councillors to represent the public in the local authority for the next four year term.
Despite a traditionally low voter turnout of 46.6% (up 3% on 2019), counting continued well into Saturday afternoon at the Bangor Aurora Aquatic & Leisure Complex.
Read more: LIVE updates as NI council election votes counted over weekend
Both the DUP and Alliance were seeking gains in this constituency but in the end, it finished up pretty stable as both remain the two largest parties.
There was no change for the DUP with a total of 14 seats secured, the same result as 2019 while Alliance picked up two more and finished on a total of 12.
It was a case of 'as you were' for the Ulster Unionist Party, which retained eight councillors here, the same number as four years ago.
Visiting the Bangor count centre on Saturday, party leader Doug Beattie acknowledged that the UUP's election results had been "brutal at times" but he remained optimistic about turning things around going forward.
Despite this, the UUP saw candidates elected in all seven District Electoral Areas (DEAs), which included newcomer Stephen Hollywood holding the seat of retired party veteran Marion Smith in Bangor West while another new face, Linzi McLaren, was elected in Holywood and Clandeboye.
The big comeback in Ards and North Down was the DUP's Alan Graham (of Rihanna fame), who was elected to Holywood and Clandeboye after losing his seat in 2019.
Rihanna famously shot some of her music video for 'We Found Love' in Mr Graham's field outside Bangor back in 2011.
Ulster championship-winning hurler Noel Sands had also stood in the area as the party attempted to secure a seat in the only local authority where it has no representatives but he was ultimately thwarted.
The council still has only one nationalist councillor, the SDLP's Joe Boyle, who was re-elected in the Ards Peninsula while three Independents were elected, no change to the result of four years ago.
Elsewhere the Greens and TUV both lost one seat each with the Green Party down to two representatives. TUV, which saw opportunities for growth, standing six candidates for the council compared to just one in 2019, is no longer represented on the council.
Meanwhile, former Green Party MLA Rachel Woods was returned to the Holywood and Clandeboye ward after losing her seat in last May's Assembly poll.
She told Belfast Live: "It's a wee bit bittersweet as we have unfortunately lost one of our amazing candidates and councillors in Stephen Dunlop, which is a big loss for Bangor Central and for us, but I'm just so immensely proud of everyone who has run for our party this year."
Here's the end result:
Ards Peninsula
| Name | Party | |
1st Preference Votes | |
| Robert Adair | DUP | |
1,959 | |
| Lorna McAlpine | Alliance | 1,266 | ||
| Joe Boyle | SDLP | 1,279 | ||
| Nigel Edmund | DUP | |
633 | |
| David Kerr | DUP | |
827 | |
| Pete Wray | UUP | 739 |
Bangor Central
| Karen Douglas | Alliance | 1,378 | ||
| Wesley Irvine | Independent | |
1,369 | |
| Alistair Cathcart | DUP | 1,053 | ||
| Craig Blaney | UUP | 917 | ||
| Chris McCracken | Alliance | |
666 | |
| Ray McKimm | Independent | |
885 |
Bangor East and Donaghadee
| Mark Brooks | UUP | |
1,972 | |
| Hannah Irwin | Alliance | 1,445 | ||
| James Cochrane | DUP | |
1,275 | |
| David Chambers | UUP | |
932 | |
| Gillian McCollum | Alliance | |
585 | |
| Janice MacArthur | DUP | |
712 |
Bangor West
| Christine Creighton | Alliance | |
1,175 | |
| Jennifer Gilmour | DUP | 1,033 | ||
| Stephen Hollywood | UUP | 867 | ||
| Peter Martin | DUP | |
640 | |
| Barry McKee | Green | |
737 |
Comber
| Libby Douglas | DUP | |
1,501 | |
| Philip Smith | UUP | 1,407 | ||
| Trevor Cummings | DUP | |
1,303 | |
| Patrica Morgan | Alliance | |
1,081 | |
| Rachel Ashe | Alliance | |
1,019 |
Holywood and Clandeboye
| Alan Graham | DUP | |
1,112 | |
| Linzi McLaren | UUP | 989 | ||
| Martin McRandal | Alliance | 1,222 | ||
| Rachel Woods | Green Party | |
1,134 | |
| David Rossiter | Alliance | |
1,074 |
Newtownards
| Steven Irvine | Independent | 1,463 | ||
| Naomi Armstrong-Cotter | DUP | 1,370 | ||
| Richard Smart | UUP | |
1,257 | |
| Alan McDowell | Alliance | |
1,236 | |
| Stephen McIlveen | DUP | |
1,057 | |
| Vicky Moore | Alliance | |
947 | |
| Colin Kennedy | DUP | |
580 |
READ NEXT:
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