Taditional Unionist Voice (TUV) candidate Jim Allister was tonight set to take an Assembly seat in North Antrim, representatives of other parties in the constituency were predicting.
The constituency is without a candidate who is a member of the Paisley family for the first time in decades, but even Ian Paisley jnr appeared to concede Mr Allister would succeed. “Every court needs its jester, every circus needs its clown,” he said.
The SDLP's Declan O'Loan said he thought Mr Allister would take a Stormont seat along with three DUP candidates and Daithi McKay of Sinn Féin.
Mr O'Loan, who is married to former police ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, said he would be battling with the UUP for the final seat.
Mr McKay, whose prediction of the eventual outcome for the six seats tallied with that of Mr O'Loan, appeared confident of success.
Turnout of slightly less than 55 per cent was recorded in the North Antrim constituency, down from more than 61 per cent in 2007.
Verification of North Antrim ballot papers was completed early this afternoon.
Mr Allister's running mate is Audrey Patterson. Both Sinn Féin and the SDLP are running one candidate each, Mr McKay and Mr O'Loan respectively. The DUP candidates are Mervyn Storey, David McIlveen, Evelyne Robinson and Paul Frew, who replaced Ian Paisley jnr when he was elected as an MP last year.
The UUP is fielding Bill Kennedy and Robin Swann, while the Alliance candidate is Jayne Dunlop.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who arrived at the count centre this evening, is expected to top the poll in his Mid-Ulster constituency, which is also being counted in Ballymena.