It was very much as case of "as you were" in the staunchly unionist constituency of North Down where Alan Chambers of the UUP Peter Weir of the DUP and Stephen Farry of the Alliance Party won the last three seats.

The final result means the constituency elected three DUP MLAs, and MLAs for the UUP, the Green Party and the Alliance Party which is exactly what happened in 2011.

The Green Party leader in Northern Ireland Steven Agnew attributed the electoral success of his party in Northern Ireland's Assembly elections to an increasing desire for social change.

Mr Agnew was re-elected in the North Down constituency while his deputy Clare Bailey was elected for the first time in South Belfast.

He hailed the doubling of the Green Party’s representation from one to two MLAs in the Assembly and suggested the growth of cross community support for his party stemmed from a desire to push forward a more “positive agenda”.

He said that along with environmental considerations, the Green Party’s emphasis on social issues had garnered a lot of support.

"One of the things I have seen is a lot of young people coming out to vote and they are sick to death of the lack of progress on marriage equality here. They have seen what has happened in the Republic and are asking why we can't get the issue resolved here too. We need to let people who love each other marry in Northern Ireland too," he told The Irish Times.

Alex Easton and Gordon Dunne of the DUP were elected on the first and second counts respectively and were subsequently joined by running mate Peter Weir.

Alan Chambers of the UUP will be joining them in the Stormont Assembly.