The first day of counting in the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly produced gains for both Republican Sinn Fein and hardline anti-Good Friday Agreement unionists the DUP.

At the end of counting yesterday, with almost half of the seats allocated, the DUP had 20 MLAs and Sinn Fein 13, while the more moderate Ulster Unionists had 12 and the nationalist SDLP just three.

However the complicated electoral system could yet turn the result around in favour of the UUP and SDLP when second and third preference votes come into play.

The four parties are fighting it out to become the two dominant powers in the assembly.