DUP and Sinn Féin candidates are making gains in the Northern Ireland council elections, in line with predictions.
Counting began this morning and may take several days to finish. More than 900 candidates are running for seats in 26 council areas.
Latest results show the DUP has increased its share of the vote by some 7.8 per cent, while Sinn Féin's increase stands at 3.2 per cent.
Reports also suggest the Ulster Unionist Party's vote is down by almost 5 per cent. The party had hoped to put up a better showing in the council elections following its disastrous result in last Thursday's British general election when its Westminster representation was reduced to one MP.
Republicans did well generally across Northern Ireland and in West Belfast in particular.
In Upper and Lower Falls alone it claimed nine of the 10 seats. However the party lost a seat to Alliance in east Belfast, the area where murder victim Robert McCartney lived.
Among the losers were the UUP's Ken Maginnis, who has served on Dungannon district council for 20 years.
The SDLP vote is down by just over 2 per cent but the Alliance Party has gained some new seats.
The DUP is seeking to cement general election gains in the local government elections.
The party, which secured nine MPs in last week's Westminster elections, is targeting local gains in Belfast and Derry at the expense of the SDLP.
In Belfast, Sinn Féin had won five seats by 1pm. Former RUC reservist and Orange Order member Billy Leonard, who defected from the SDLP to Sinn Féin, retained his seat in Coleraine.
In Derry, where SDLP leader Mark Durkan comfortably defended the party's Foyle Westminster seat, his nephew Mark H Durkan won a seat, along with rising star Gerard Diver.
Following the resignation for their leader David Trimble at the weekend, former Stormont economy minister, Sir Reg Empey, who has been tipped as a leadership contender, was returned in Belfast along with Jim Rodgers.
The cross-community Alliance Party was also pleased with its initial results with Assembly members Seamus Close and Naomi Long securing seats in Lisburn, and former Belfast Mayor David Alderdice and Ian Parsley capturing seats in North Down.
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, Sammy Wilson, Peter and Iris Robinson, Gregory Campbell and Jeffrey Donaldson all comfortably won council seats.