Belfast City Council has elected an Alliance councillor to succeed the SDLP's Mr Martin Morgan as lord mayor.
Mr Tom Ekin was elected on the casting ballot of the outgoing lord mayor following a first round vote between three candidates in which two unionist councillors were nominated.
In the second round, Mr Ekin was supported by his own party, the SDLP and Sinn Féin. Unionists of all persuasions supported Mr Eric Smyth and both candidates won 25 votes. Mr Morgan, in his last vote before stepping down, cast in favour of Mr Ekin.
The new Lord Mayor, in his first address, said he wanted to "unlock the potential of Belfast" and claimed that the parties at City Hall worked more together than against each other.
He vowed to work to make Belfast a "cleaner, neater and more attractive place", and said he would strive to make its streets safer. The Lord Mayor would liaise with the PSNI to make this summer a peaceful one at the city's sectarian interfaces. He also promised to work for better delivery of services and suggested the council's profile would be higher as a result of the suspension of the Assembly.
There was uproar in the chamber following the vote for deputy lord mayor, which went to Sinn Féin's Mr Joe O'Donnell.
In the first round of voting, Alliance councillors abstained while the SDLP backed Mr O'Donnell and unionists voted for Mr Eric Smyth. However, this vote was also tied and the new Lord Mayor cast his deciding ballot in favour of the Sinn Féin councillor.
Mr Sammy Wilson of the DUP was immediately on his feet, denouncing the Alliance party as nationalist and accusing Sinn Féin and the SDLP of promoting equality and inclusiveness only when it suited them.
Pointing at the new Lord Mayor, he shouted: "It's inclusiveness out - dirty deals in." Ulster Unionist councillors berated Mr Wilson, claiming he was grandstanding.