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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Shauna Corr

East Antrim NI election results as Alliance Party secures two MLAs for the first time

All five candidates have been announced for East Antrim, making it the first constituency count finished at the Newtownabbey count centre.

Ulster Unionist John Stewart was the first MLA to be elected. He polled a total of 6,706 votes.

He said in his victory speech he looks forward to working with all the other candidates elected today in what he hopes “will be a newly formed Executive very soon when we can deliver again for the people of East Antrim”.

Read more: NI Election 2022: Results on Friday night and what happens next

He was followed by Economy Minister Gordon Lyons for the DUP.

Lyons thanked those who helped return two DUP MLAs to East Antrim.

“I am very grateful,” he added.

“I want to once again thank the voters who came out.”

He went on to say the election has shown how “unionism is divided”.

“We need to focus on the issues that matter and we need to deal with the people’s priorities.”

The Alliance Party went on to make history securing seats for two MLAs in East Antrim for the first time.

Stewart Dickson secured his existing seat.

He said: “We have passed the job interview and we are ready and able and willing to get out there to do the job for all of you.

“We have serious issues to address - the cost of living and health service and all of these other issues people feel very strongly about.

“We believe sitting down on Monday with other party leaders to get back into business.”

He will be joined at the NI Assembly by his running mate Danny Donnelly - a new MLA.

Danny said: “This is a huge responsibility.

“People want us to go back into business, they want us to address their problems.. we will roll our sleeves up and get the job done."

The fifth person elected to East Antrim was DUP candidate David Hilditch, who was the only candidate not to mark his win with a speech.

Read more: Live NI election 2022 results tracker and map

Read more: NI election results 2022: How the single transferable vote works

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