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

Friday was a dramatic day for our political parties in Northern Ireland as the election results have thrown up a few surprises so far.

With 90 seats across 18 constituencies up for grabs, there were 47 seats secured on Friday night - halfway there.

Four constituencies have concluded their counts – Newry and Armagh, East Antrim, South Antrim and Lagan Valley. The other counts will be continuing from 9am tomorrow morning.

Read more: Sinn Fein set for best ever Assembly result

Sinn Fein is on course for a historic victory in the Northern Ireland Assembly election, after receiving the most first-preference votes.

With counting for the 90 Stormont seats set to continue on Saturday, the republican party had won 18 seats, well ahead of the the DUP on 12, the Alliance Party on eight, the Ulster Unionists on four and the SDLP on three.

Jim Allister has returned in North Antrim for the TUV and Alex Easton secured his seat in North Down as an Independent after leaving the DUP.

Sinn Fein looks set to emerge with the most seats after it received 250,388 first preferences, compared with 184,002 for the DUP and 116,681 for the Alliance Party.

This means that it received 29% of first preference votes, compared with 21.3% for the DUP, 13.5% for Alliance, 11.2% for the Ulster Unionists and 9.1% for the SDLP.

Naomi Long's Alliance Party looks set to be the other main winner from the election, with a surge of support for the cross-community party likely to make it the third largest at Stormont, ahead of the UUP and SDLP, who have both had disappointing results.

So let's take a look at each constituency and how things stand on Friday evening, which MLAs have secured a seat and who will be waiting on tenderhooks on Saturday.

Counting will begin at the three centres at 9am on Saturday.

Who are the elected MLAs so far

Belfast North

There are two of the five candidates elected so far

Gerry Kelly - Sinn Fein

Carál Ní Chuilín - Sinn Fein

Belfast East

There are two of the five candidates elected so far

Naomi Long - Alliance Party

Joanne Bunting - DUP

Belfast South

Edwin Poots, Democratic Unionist Party, with his wife Glynis at the Northern Ireland Assembly Election Count at Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast (Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye)

There are two of the five candidates elected so far

Deirdre Hargey - Sinn Fein

Edwin Poots - DUP

Matthew O'Toole - SDLP

Belfast West

One of the five candidates has been elected so far

Danny Baker - Sinn Fein

Strangford

Michelle McIlveen - Democratic Unionist Party at the Northern Ireland Assembly Election Count at Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast (Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye)

There are three of the five candidates elected so far

Kellie Armstrong - Alliance Party

Michelle McIlveen - DUP

Harry Harvey - DUP

North Down

There are two of the five candidates elected so far

Alex Easton - Independent

Andrew Muir - Alliance Party

South Down

There are two of the five candidates elected so far

Sinéad Ennis - Sinn Fein

Cathy Mason - Sinn Fein

Lagan Valley

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is congratulated by Paul Givan (PA)

All five candidates have been named

Jeffrey Donaldson - DUP

Robbie Butler - UUP

Sorcha Eastwood - Alliance Party

Paul Givan - DUP

David Honeyford - Alliance Party

North Antrim

There are three of the five candidates elected so far

Robin Swann - UUP

Philip McGuigan - Sinn Fein

Jim Allister - TUV

East Antrim

All five candidates have been named

John Stewart - UUP

Gordon Lyons - DUP

David Hilditch - DUP

Stewart Dickson - Alliance Party

Danny Donnelly - Alliance Party

South Antrim

UUP Steve Aiken elected in South Antrim (Stephen Hamilton / Press Eye)

All five candidates have been named

Declan Kearney - Sinn Fein

John Blair - Alliance Party

Steve Aiken - UUP

Pam Cameron- - DUP

Trevor Clarke - DUP

Fermanagh and South Tyrone

One of the five candidates has been elected so far

Jemma Dolan - Sinn Fein

West Tyrone

One of the five candidates has been elected so far

Nicola Brogan - Sinn Fein

Mid Ulster

Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill arrive at the Belfast Count (Getty Images)

There are three of the five candidates elected so far

Michelle O'Neill - Sinn Fein

Emma Sheerin - Sinn Fein

Linda Dillon - Sinn Fein

Foyle

There are two of the five candidates elected so far

Pádraig Delargy - Sinn Fein

Mark H. Durkan - SDLP

East Londonderry

One of the five candidates has been elected so far

Maurice Bradley - DUP

Newry and Armagh

All five candidates have been named

Conor Murphy - Sinn Fein

Cathal Boylan - Sinn Fein

Justin McNulty - SDLP

Liz Kimmins- Sinn Fein

William Irwin - DUP

Upper Bann

One of the five candidates has been elected so far

John O'Dowd - Sinn Fein

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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