Council elections candidates list published

More than 800 candidates are standing in the local council elections next month.

The Electoral Office has confirmed that 819 people have been nominated.

The number is down from the 905 people who put their names forward for the previous election five years ago.

The party fielding the most candidates with 172 is the DUP, followed by Sinn Féin with 155, the Ulster Unionists with 117, the SDLP with 85 and Alliance with 84.

Full lists of the candidates standing in each council area can be found on the Electoral Office's website.

The Electoral Commission has reminded voters that registration to vote in next month's election closes at the end of this week.

Online option

Ann Watt, the head of the commission, has encouraged anyone who has not registered to do so soon.

On 2 May, voters will elect 462 councillors across 11 council areas in Northern Ireland.

They will be the first elections in Northern Ireland for which registering online is an option.

About 70% of applications to vote in Northern Ireland have been made online since the system was introduced last year.

"The actual deadline to register is midnight on Friday 12 April - so that's this Friday at midnight," said Ms Watt.

"That's when your application would have to be sent online."