Sinn Fein was last night leading the way on Belfast City Council after securing 11 of 23 seats decided after 10 hours of counting in the PR poll.
The party aims to eclipse the UUP and become the largest party on the council and provide its first lord mayor.
Results for 29 of the 51 council seats were calculated yesterday, although counting continued late for final seats in two wards. Results for the remaining 22 seats are expected later today.
With six seats yet to be decided last night, the SDLP, the DUP and the UUP all had three seats each. Sinn Fein had 11, the Alliance party one, and the PUP two. Counting in five of nine council wards began in Belfast City Hall with the Lower Falls and Upper Falls wards - Sinn Fein strongholds in west Belfast - the first to be decided.
Sinn Fein candidates retained four seats in each five-seat ward. Mr Alex Attwood and Ms Margaret Walsh of the SDLP, who faced down an attempt by republicans to take her seat, were also re-elected. Fielding a fifth candidate against Ms Walsh meant Mr Sean McKnight, one of Sinn Fein's first councillors in Belfast, lost his seat.
Ms Walsh said the SDLP may have polled poorly in the Westminster elections, "but we haven't gone away". Mr Fra McCann of Sinn Fein said it was "inevitable" his party would provide the next lord mayor.
In an intra-unionist contest for two traditionally unionist seats in the Oldpark ward in north Belfast, the DUP scored a victory over Ulster Unionists when Mr Nelson McCausland of the DUP, a UUP defector, unseated long-time councillor Mr Fred Proctor.
Mr McCausland said his victory was due in part to the convincing win by his party in north Belfast in the Westminster poll.
"It is the first DUP representative in Oldpark for 12 years and we have tripled our vote since 1997," he added.
Mr Billy Hutchinson of the PUP narrowly retained his seat in Oldpark, where the Catholic population has grown in recent years. The SDLP took one seat in the ward, with Sinn Fein topping the poll and securing three seats, including a victory for newcomer Mr Eoin O'Broin from Dublin.
In Pottinger in east Belfast, the recent DUP lord mayor of the city, Mr Sammy Wilson, topped the poll with 3,918 first-preference votes. The UUP Minister, Sir Reg Empey, also a former lord mayor, was elected on the first count, with Mr David Ervine of the PUP elected on the third count.
Last night a Sinn Fein spokesman said the party was confident Mr Joe O'Donnell would win the party its first seat in the Pottinger ward by beating the DUP for the final seat.
That result would unseat Mr Mervyn Jones, the Alliance party leader on the council. The Alliance's five seats had been the pivotal balance of power between the unionist and nationalist groupings over the last four years.
In the seven-seat Victoria ward, also in east Belfast, Mr Ian Adamson of the UUP topped the poll with 3,286 votes, followed closely by Mr David Alderdice of the Alliance party, also a former lord mayor.
The veteran UUP councillor, Mr Jim Rodgers, was also elected on the first count alongside Mr Wallace Browne of the DUP. After the elimination of some candidates, UUP, DUP and Alliance party candidates were tipped to secure the final three seats.
Mr Rodgers said he was saddened his party colleague, Mr Proctor, had failed to retain his seat.