BBC News NI

Sinn Féin is now the largest party in both local government and at Stormont for the first time after huge gains in Northern Ireland's council elections.

The party has won the most seats so far in the council poll with 137, up from the 105 councillors it had returned in 2019.

Image source, PA Media

Its vice-president Michelle O'Neill (above, left) has called on the DUP to end its boycott of power-sharing at Stormont.

The DUP has 117 seats so far, with just under 30 seats yet to be declared.

Read more: Sinn Féin now largest party after council elections success

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political correspondent

The DUP has lost its Belfast City Council group leader George Dorrian.

The party ran three candidates in the Titanic ward but he failed to retain his seat, with Sinn Féin gaining one in that area.

Ruth Brooks, who was one of two candidates elected for the DUP in Titanic, says the irony of winning with 1,690 votes is not lost on her.

She pays tribute to Mr Dorrian and says losing him from City Hall makes the council a "poorer place".

Louise Cullen
BBC News NI

Sinn Féin gained in six of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council's seven electoral wards, finishing on 21 seats and giving it overall control.

The Ulster Unionists remains the second-largest party after dropping two seats to seven.

The DUP is in third with six seats after adding one to its 2019 tally.

The SDLP now has three seats, down from five in 2019, while the Alliance Party has doubled its representation to two, with a councillor elected in both the Enniskillen and Omagh wards.

Josephine Deehan is the sole independent on a council which had three such politicians elected in 2019.

There has been a power cut at the count centre for Newry, Mourne and Down District Council but that isn't putting a stop to proceedings.

Image source, bbc

Generators are being used to keep things ticking and the returning officer is shouting the results to those gathered in lieu of a microphone and speaker.

NIE Networks, which runs the electricity infrastructure in Northern Ireland, reports that more than 1,000 properties in Newry are affected by the power cut and a repair team is on the way to the area.

All 40 seats on Derry City and Strabane District Council have now been filled.

And it was a clean sweep for Sinn Féin, with every one of its 18 candidates elected, reversing the party’s underwhelming performance in 2019.

The SDLP returns to the council chamber in the Guildhall one councillor down but leader Colum Eastwood will be relieved there weren’t more losses in what is the party's spiritual home.

The DUP lost two seats, including one to former soldier Ryan McCready who defected from the DUP to the Ulster Unionists during the last council mandate.

In a rare success for the UUP in this election it gained a seat, taking its representation in the Guildhall to three.

The Alliance Party had a breakthrough election in the north-west in 2019 but lost its two sitting councillors this time around. Aontú also failed to retain its only seat.

People Before Profit lost one of its two seats while three independents made it over the line.

There are fewer than 40 seats remaining out of the 462 that were available at the start of these council elections.

You can find the overall party-by-party results so far by clicking here.

Looking for the results from your council? Click on the relevant link below to find out more:

• Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council
• Ards and North Down Borough Council
• Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council
• Belfast City Council
• Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council
• Derry City and Strabane District Council
• Fermanagh and Omagh District Council
• Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council
• Mid and East Antrim Borough Council
• Mid Ulster District Council
• Newry, Mourne and Down District Council

Rick Faragher
BBC News NI

Aaron Skinner of the Alliance Party claims the 40th and final seat after a long two days here in the Seven Towers Leisure Centre in Ballymena.

The council remains unionist-dominated with a DUP majority but Sinn Féin doubling its presence to four seats can't be ignored.

After the UUP's disappointing election results across Northern Ireland, the party will take some consolation here after gaining a seat.

TUV leader Jim Allister spent a long time at the count centre today but didn't see his party make the inroads he perhaps felt they might have done.

It ended honours even for the Alliance Party but the new Mid and East Antrim Borough Council will not have any representation from the SDLP in what will be seen as another blow for the party.

Maria McCann
BBC News NI

Russell Watton is now the PUP's only councillor in Northern Ireland after his re-election to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.

He says he knows "what working-class loyalism is all about" and "worked my socks off" to win votes.

The party leader Billy Hutchinson lost his seat on Belfast City Council yesterday, leaving the PUP with no representation there.

Mr Watton says: "It was a bad blow for Billy and the party."

He says there will be a meeting of the party in the next weeks to determine its future.

Paul McCusker has been elected as an independent in Oldpark.

He had held the seat as an SDLP councillor since 2016 but left the party about two months before the election.

Image source, PA Media

In a statement at the time, he said it had been a challenging year for him but ultimately he chose to quit the party after a "lack of progress on issues that I am very passionate about".

He has also previously served as deputy lord mayor of Belfast.

Louise Cullen
BBC News NI

The counting continues for Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, with just a handful of seats left to fill.

It will go down to the wire in the Omagh ward, where the final seat will belong to either Matthew Bell of the Ulster Unionists or independent candidate Josephine Deehan, formerly of the SDLP.

Within the past hour the Erne West ward was wrapped up, with Mark Ovens of the UUP and the SDLP's Adam Gannon reaching the quota to take the last two seats.

Earlier John Feely (above, third right) in the Erne North ward became the 21st Sinn Féin candidate to be elected to this council.

Sinn Féin has added six seats to its 2019 tally to put it in control of the council.

Elaine McGee
BBC News NI

Lilian Seenoi-Barr has retained her seat on Derry City and Strabane District Council for the SDLP and she celebrated with party leader Colum Eastwood.

She was co-opted to her Foyleside seat in 2021 after Mary Durkan left the party.

She was a prominent Black Lives Matter campaigner and is the director of the North West Migrants Forum.

Maria McCann
BBC News NI

The Alliance Party has had a successful day in the poll for Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.

It has won a seat in the Ballymoney ward for the first time since 1993, with newly-elected councillor Lee Kane describing the result as fantastic.

"We’ve really put in so much work in the past few weeks and years to try and build on that positive message not just in Ballymoney but across the whole of Causeway Coast and Glens," he added.

Peter McCully was also elected for the party to the Causeway ward.

On Friday Amy Mairs won a seat in the Limavady ward, the first time the Alliance Party has had one there since the 1970s.

In 2019 the party had two councillors elected to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.

So far it has gained an extra seat and hopes to have Yvonne Boyle returned in Coleraine as well as a possible second seat in Causeway.

The final first-preference vote figures are in so we can show you how every party performed across Northern Ireland.

First-preference votes are the number of 1s given by voters to a party under Northern Ireland's single transferable vote system, which you can read more about here.

The chart shows the surge in the Sinn Féin vote - the party won 30.9% of all first-preference votes, up 7.7 percentage points from the last council election in 2019.

The DUP's vote declined slightly while the Alliance Party's rose by 1.8 percentage points.

The UUP and SDLP were the big losers, down 3.2 and 3.3 percentage points respectively.

Father-and-son pair Sammy and Davy Douglas have both been elected to Belfast City Council for the DUP.

Sammy Douglas had been co-opted to the council after the election of David Brooks to the Stormont assembly last year and has now won a seat in Titanic in his own right.

Image source, PA Media

He is no stranger to politics, having served as an MLA for Belfast East between 2011 and 2017.

This time around he will be joined in the chamber by his son Davy, who was elected in the Lisnasharragh ward.

Former Green Party assembly member Rachel Woods has been elected to Ards and North Down Borough Council for the Holywood and Clandeboye ward along with the Alliance Party's Martin McRandal.

It means one seat is still to be filled in the ward.

The DUP's Alan Graham and Ulster Unionist Linzi McLaren picked up the other seats in Holywood and Clandeboye earlier.

Alliance party duo David Rossiter and Helen Corbett are in the running for the remaining seat.

Elaine McGee
BBC News NI

In 2019 the story of the Derry City and Strabane District Council election was the emergence of the smaller parties with People Before Profit, the Alliance Party and Aontú all gaining seats on the council for the first time.

Four years on Alliance and the smaller parties are very much feeling the squeeze due as a result of a Sinn Féin surge.

After making historic gains in 2019 the Alliance Party struggled this time around, losing two councillors - Rachael Ferguson in Faughan and Philip McKinney in the Waterside.

People Before Profit sitting councillor Shaun Harkin (above) is awaiting his result in Foyleside.

He believes the smaller parties and independents have fallen victim to voting motivated by public anger at the ongoing Stormont stalemate.

Independent republican candidate Gary Donnelly has bucked the trend however, topping the poll again in the Moor ward, which covers areas including Brandywell and Creggan.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says the council elections have been about getting the mandate to go to the UK government and secure the changes to post-Brexit trade rules that the party wants before it returns to Stormont.

He tells BBC News NI that the party's vote has "held up well", with gains in Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, Mid Ulster District Council, and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.

Image source, Pacemaker

"This election was always primarily about consolidating our vote and giving us the mandate we need to go to the government and to get the outcomes that are required to see Stormont restored," he adds.

"That's about ensuring that Northern Ireland's ability to trade with the rest of the United Kingdom is not only respected but protected in law and that our place in the union is restored."

There were no big changes to Mid Ulster District Council except for the UUP, which lost four seats to return with just two councillors.

Sinn Féin remains the biggest party after winning two extra seats to return with 19, while the DUP also gained two to win 11.

The SDLP lost one, dropping to five overall, while there was one more independent elected, taking the total on the council to three.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie is disappointed with his party's results and describes the election as a brutal and difficult one.

"We have lost some outstanding, long-standing councillors but we have also brought through some new, fresh faces which is encouraging," he tells BBC News NI.

"There is a degree of change afoot, its does take time - I said this when I took over as the party leader."

He says he will not shy away from taking responsibility for the outcome.

"I think our message is clear but it's not resonating," he says.

"It's clear also that many unionists and people who are pro-union are simply not getting out to vote so we have a real issue getting people out of their doors."

It has been a "tough election" for the smaller parties, admits People Before Profit leader Gerry Carroll.

But he is hopeful that his party will retain representation on both Belfast City Council and Derry City and Strabane District Council.

Image source, PA Media

"In the context where smaller parties are squeezed - we saw the Greens lose their leader yesterday - we hope to maintain a presence," he tells BBC News NI.

He says a "polarisation" among the electorate and an anger towards the DUP has meant that people who may have backed the smaller parties have turned towards Sinn Féin and the Alliance Party.