The failure of the Ulster Democratic Party to win any seats in the Assembly will "unanchor" the paramilitaries associated with it from the peace process, the party's leader has warned.
Mr Gary McMichael said the UDA would be cut adrift from the next stage of the process and would have to arrive at its own position on the results. "People know it was very important for us to be involved," he said, adding that the party's absence from the Assembly "means they [the UDA] have no voice and no eyes or ears and no attachment to the next stage of the peace process".
Speaking after he conceded defeat to the SDLP's Ms Patricia Lewsley for the sixth and final seat in the Lagan Valley constituency, Mr McMichael (28) said the setback would "inhibit the potential for the mechanisms of the peace process to work" and for the UDA's transition to a peaceful society.
However, he said the party would continue to do what it had been doing for several years, arguing that "the only way forward is to use the democratic path".
The UDP's fortunes contrasted with those of the Popular Unionist Party, whose two main spokesmen won seats. Mr David Ervine was elected in East Belfast, while Mr Billy Hutchinson won a seat in North Belfast. While the UDP leader was the party's best hope of a seat, there was also disappointment in South Belfast where one of its negotiators in the Stormont talks, Mr David Adams, was the candidate.
There were reports of divisions within the UDA locally and resentment that Mr Adams had been imposed on the constituency from outside. Sinn Fein workers in South Belfast were concerned that some of their supporters would vote for the Adams name out of confusion. In the event, the UDP man polled only 1,700 votes and was eliminated after the third count.
The PUP had its own disappointments, particularly the failure of the party veteran, Mr Hugh Smyth, who was considered to have an outside chance in West Belfast. He outpolled Mr Chris McGimpsey of the UUP, as well as the DUP and UKUP candidates, but his failure to win a seat left the Shankill Road without a pro-union representative in the Assembly.