Sinn Fein and the DUP have made significant gains at the expense of the SDLP and Ulster Unionists in the North's local elections, while smaller parties have been tightly squeezed.
From the very first declarations it became apparent that Sinn Fein and DUP candidates were recording much larger first-preference votes than in 1997.
At 8.30 p.m. last night the UUP was leading the field with 93 seats, the DUP was on 88, the SDLP 70 and Sinn Fein 66. In 1997 the UUP had double the number held by the DUP - 186 to 92 - while the SDLP had 119 to Sinn Fein's 74.
But even with over half of the 582 councillors elected the final result was far from clear last night.
Sinn Fein made gains often, but not always, at the expense of the SDLP. Reflecting its Westminster successes west of the Bann, the party seemed likely to increase its councillors in Fermanagh and Omagh.
In Magherafelt, the first council to finish counting, each nationalist party began with five seats apiece, but Sinn Fein finished with seven to the SDLP's three, one fewer than it needed to control the council totally.
The Portadown district of Craigavon Borough Council seemed likely to produce an upset for the Ulster Unionists, who had previously held three seats there. Mr Mark Neale, the pro-agreement deputy mayor, polled very badly, but Mr David Simpson of the DUP topped the poll. Anti-agreement UUP candidates also fared well, as did candidates linked with the Orange stand at Drumcree.
The DUP replaced the UUP as the biggest party in Larne, with at least five seats to its four. The MP for the area, Mr Roy Beggs, was outpolled by Mr Bobby McKee of the DUP. In Ballymena, the DUP was expected to regain control of the council from the UUP. A former UUP councillor, Mr James Alexander, who defected to the DUP because of his opposition to the Belfast Agreement, topped the poll in Ballymena North.
In Banbridge the Ulster Unionists, who had been the largest party, were level-pegging with their DUP rivals after losing one seat in both Dromore and Knockiveagh.
It was not all reverses for the UUP, however. In Lisburn it gained one seat in Downshire, despite a DUP assemblyman, Mr Edwin Poots, topping the poll, and in Lisburn Town South a pro-agreement MLA, Mr Ivan Davis - who had been deselected by his local party and then reinstated - topped the poll. The party lost a seat to the DUP in this ward, however, and another in Killultagh.
An overall rise in the nationalist vote meant that two councils, Dungannon and Moyle, which had been previously deadlocked between nationalists and unionists seemed set to come under nationalist control. While the transfer of votes within the PR system was believed to be in favour of the more moderate SDLP and UUP, it was not clear last night to what extent this would be true.
More certain was that smaller parties and independent candidates had lost out to the major parties. In Coleraine all the Alliance councillors, including the deputy mayor, beaten by a first-time SDLP candidate, failed to be re-elected.
The smaller loyalist and unionist parties also felt the pinch. In Lisburn Mr Gary McMichael, leader of the UDP, which has links to the UDA, escaped elimination only with the help of Sinn Fein transfers. In Newtownabbey Mr Norman Boyd, an Assemblyman for the Northern Ireland Unionist Party, barely secured a third of a quota.