While DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson sailed first past the post in Lagan Valley, his running mate and former First Minister Paul Givan was left needing thousands of transfers in the Assembly Election.
Both eventually clinched a seat at Stormont for the next mandate but whether they agree to form a government with Sinn Fein remains to be seen.
Sir Jeffrey topped the poll with 12,626 votes - considerably more than the 8,506 needed.
Read more: NI Election 2022: Results on Friday night and what happens next
Mr Donaldson said after being elected he was delighted to make it on first preferences.
He used his victory speech to call on Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Secretary of State Brandon Lewis to "act to ensure political stability is restored" in Northern Ireland and said it is as much in Sinn Fein's hands as his own party's on whether a new government is formed.
"The long shadow of the protocol is unfortunately casting its shadow over the political process and that cannot continue.
"Words are not enough - action is required."
UUP deputy leader Robbie Butler became the second candidate to claim a seat at Stormont for the constituency.
He said afterwards: “It vindicates the positive brand of unionism we are trying to do.
“Our priorities don’t change. We will be looking at issues such as fixing the health service, the cost of living crisis and a stable, functioning government for Northern Ireland as soon as we have a programme for government.”
Robbie also paid tribute to the SDLP's Pat Catney who lost his seat to Alliance candidate David Honeyford.
New Alliance MLA Sorcha Eastwood was the next candidate declared for Lagan Valley.
“From the bottom of my heart thank you all so much,” she said in a message to those who gave her “an incredible 8,211 first preference votes”.
To “the people of Lagan Valley who I love so much” she added - this is “a new dawn and a new politics - let’s do this”.
Ms Eastwood was followed by former DUP First Minister Paul Givan.
He told Belfast Live after being re-elected: “I am delighted to be elected.
“In Lagan Valley the DUP vote has held up very well with nearly 18,000 votes, which is where we were five years ago.
“I am pleased that Jeffrey and I have both been elected comfortably but obviously there’s a clear message that people do want Stormont up and running.
“We need to get a way to make progress on the issues that have created that instability around the [NI] Protocol.”
We asked Mr Givan if he thought the protocol issue trumps the cost of living crisis.
He added: “I think all of these issues are interconnected - cost of living is impacted by increased cost of transporting goods across the Irish Sea so these things are connected.
“The public want us to be working on all of these issues and the only way we can make Northern Ireland work is for all of the parties to respect each others’ mandates and find common ground.”
David Honeyford also paid tribute the man he will replace, Pat Catney.
He said: "I also want to pay tribute to Pat Catney and I wish him all the best in whatever he gets up to.
"We ran a really positive campaign.
"We are working hard for people and it has come through now.
"I want to thank the electorate for bringing us here."
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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