Sinn Féin has secured a second seat in the Newry and Armagh constituency with Cathal Boylan elected on the second count meaning he will retain his seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections.
Mr Boylan was just 31 votes off the quota of 6,645 during the first round of voting. He secured 1,478 of party colleague, Conor Murphy's surplus votes, crossing the line on the second count.
Three seats were filled on the first count, in Newry & Armagh, which at 7pm became the first constituency to declare an elected candidate.
Mr Murphy, Northern Ireland's outgoing Minister for Regional Development, topped the poll in the constituency exceeding the quota of by almost 2,500 votes with a total tally of 9,127 first preference votes.
Others to have been elected in the first count are returning MLAs Danny Kennedy for the UUP who took 8,718 votes and Dominic Bradley for the SDLP with 7,123 votes.
Meanwhile counting is underway in the Upper Bann constituency which had a turnout of 55 per cent, down from 61 per cent on the 2007 Assembly election.
Sinn Féin, which held one seat in the previous Assembly, is hoping to take a second seat here, given a change in population trends which have seen a growth in the nationalist demographic in the constituency.
The party hopes this will translate into a third nationalist seat, although there is speculation that the party may instead take the seat held by the SDLP’s Dolores Kelly.
The Alliance party is hoping for a good innings for one of its two Upper Bann candidates Harry Hamilton, a Freddie Mercury impersonator, who had the highest UUP vote in last year’s Westminster election before switching parties.