NI council elections 2023: Six things to know about the results

A farmer who told Rihanna to cover up has won back his council seat

Surprises, shocks, Rihanna and A-levels - with local elections results having finished in Northern Ireland, there's been no shortage of storylines.

Beyond the success of Sinn Féin - which is now the largest party in local government as well as at Stormont - there were individual success stories and disappointments.

As the dust settles after a gruelling two-day count, here are six of the more interesting talking points that emerged from the election results.

1. Swings, roundabouts and Rihanna

The DUP held steady for the most part but there was a shock in party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's home constituency.

Lisburn and Castlereagh Mayor Scott Carson lost his seat in Lisburn North after being pipped by independent Gary Hynds.

Mr Hynds has previously stood for election for the NI Conservatives but dropped the Tory tag to secure his first success at the ballot box.

Meanwhile, in better news for the DUP, the farmer who made global headlines after he asked Rihanna to "cover up" when she was shooting a pop video in his field, has won back his seat in Ards and North Down. Alan Graham is having a moment... another one.

And politics is full of great power-couples - think Bill and Hilary; Barack and Michelle; and, closer to home, Nigel and Diane.

Add Gary and Julie Middleton to that list.

Mr Middleton, a DUP assembly member, was there to celebrate when his wife secured a seat in the Faughan area for Derry and Strabane council.

2. You can bounce back

In the last 2019 council elections, Sinn Féin had a disappointing time in Derry and Strabane, losing five seats and its status as the single largest party.

Amid wider concerns for the party in Derry, it launched a restructure and responded with the kind of ruthless weeding Monty Don might baulk at.

High-profile assembly member and well-known republican Martina Anderson and party colleague Karen Mullan were asked to stand down.

But fast forward two years and the party has bounced back around Foyle, with it on course to resume its position as the council's largest party.

It also has kept Ms Anderson in the fold, and she was out on the election trail to lend her voice to the party's campaign in north Antrim.

That work may have helped the party take a historic result in Ballymena - a DUP stronghold, the heartland of Paisleyism and the land of the late first minister whose battle cry was: "Never! Never! Never!"

Now the town has its first ever Sinn Féin councillor in Bréanainn Lyness, while Lisburn - a similarly unionist-dominated area - also delivered its first Sinn Féin councillor in the shape of Paul Burke.

3. Elections today, A-levels tomorrow

Newly-elected Alliance councillor Lewis Boyle may have had to keep his celebrations on Friday short and sweet - he has a Politics A-Level to do later this week.

The 18-year-old was elected to represent the Ballyclare area on Antrim and Newtownabbey District Council.

But he has had to balance hard graft on the doorsteps with getting down to his books.

Given it's a quick shift from shaking hands to hand-shaking nerves, fingers crossed he can get results as good as those from Friday's count.

4. You just need one star performer

Ryan McCready defected from the DUP to the UUP in 2021

It has been no bed of roses for the UUP - Belfast has not gone well and there are problems elsewhere.

But one star performer has delivered the magic.

Ryan McCready defected from the DUP to join the party in 2021 and has topped the poll in Faughan for Derry City and Strabane District Council.

"Humbly elected," he tweeted after the event.

5. God loves a grafter

Séamus de Faoite (middle in the green shirt) doubled his first preference vote from 2019

The SDLP struggled in some key areas - take former assembly member Karen McKevitt, who lost her seat on Newry, Mourne and Down District Council by just one vote. Talk about fine margins.

However another party member who knows all about fine margins has bucked the trend - Séamus de Faoite.

In 2019, Mr De Faoite was the last councillor elected in Northern Ireland. And it was thought he'd struggle to retain that seat if the SDLP had a bad day.

Cue him doubling his vote in the Lisnasharragh area and comfortably getting back into council.

Mr De Faoite, local people say, knows how to put in the leg work and appears regularly on doorsteps across the area with a focus on local issues from parks to parking and road crossings.

6. Goodbye to all that

Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) leader Billy Hutchinson was first elected to Belfast council in 1997

There were shocks for some of the smaller parties too.

Green Party leader in Northern Ireland Mal O'Hara became his party's second leader to lose a seat at an election, following on from Claire Bailey's defeat in the assembly election last year.

For the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), leader Billy Hutchinson was knocked out leaving the party with no representation in Belfast. It now has one solitary seat in electoral politics, on Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.

Aontú's Denise Mullen has gone too and, although the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) picked up three more seats, other smaller parties like People Before Profit fared worse.