Assembly Election 2017: Here’s who was elected in your area

It was crash and burn for a raft of political heavyweights as Assembly election carnage ended with Mike Nesbitt quitting as Ulster Unionist boss.

The Strangford MLA announced he is to step down as leader of the party after failing to take advantage of the cash for ash fallout.

He announced the move in the wake of an election bloodbath that saw Stormont veterans like Nelson McCausland in North Belfast, Alex Attwood in the west and Danny Kennedy in Newry and Armagh losing their seats.

The political upheaval culminated with Mike Nesbitt stepping aside, saying the election result shows “this society is more polarised than ever”.

He said it had been an “absolute honour” to lead the party, but added: “In pure terms the buck stops here.”

It is understood he is to stay on as Strangford MLA.

He said the electorate had rejected his hope for a post-sectarian vote.

He added: “We will get there. Some day Northern Ireland will vote as a normal democracy. We will vote in a post-sectarian election but it’s now clear it will not happen during the duration of my political career.”

Some commentators were claiming Mr Nesbitt’s call for UUP voters to transfer to the nationalist SDLP damaged him.

Danny Kennedy’s exit came as a double blow to the UUP as he would have been seen as a leadership contender.

DUP leader Arlene Foster topped the poll in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, however party veteran Maurice Morrow lost his seat there while the constituency elected three Sinn Fein MLAs with Michelle Gildernew coming in first.

Overall, the total votes cast were well up on the 2016 Assembly poll with a turnout of 64.8% – the highest since the vote which followed the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Sinn Fein had a powerful run in the election, which came just 10 months after the last one, gaining to within a few votes of the DUP.

The DUP notched up 225,413 first preferences, down 1.11 percentage points on last year’s Assembly vote, to Sinn Féin’s 224,245 – an increase of 3.89 percentage points.

NORTH BELFAST