ELECTION 2015 - Who took the 18 seats in Northern Ireland

Counting taking place at The King's Hall in Belfast. Picture Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

The DUP came out on top with eight seats, Sinn Féin with four, three SDLP, two Ulster Unionists and one independent elected.

But the big story of the night was when Sinn Féin has lost the Fermanagh and South Tyrone seat to the Ulster Unionists, in what has been described as one of the biggest upsets.

Winning with a majority of 530 votes the UU’s Tom Elliot said he was delighted to have taken the seat from Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew.

His constituency was one of four where there was a pact between the UUP and DUP, the two main unionist parties in Northern Ireland.

The first result came from Lagan Valley with Jeffrey Donaldson regaining his seat for the DUP with 19,055 votes. Ian Paisley, DUP, retained his North Antrim seat with 18,107 votes.

Despite increasing her vote to 16,978 Naomi Long of the Alliance failed to hold on to her seat in East Belfast losing out to the DUP’s Gavin Robinson who polled 19,575. Ms Long described her term as MP as a “roller coaster”.

In a shock result in South Antrim, Ulster Unionist Danny Kinahan ousted the long standing Willie McCrea of the DUP.

Mark Durkan, SDLP, topped the poll in Foyle with 17,725 votes and Pat Doherty, Sinn Féin, was returned in West Tyrone with 16,806 votes.

In East Derry, the DUP’s Gregory Campbell regained his seat with 14, 663 votes.

In South Belfast, Alasdair McDonnell, SDLP, retained his seat with 9,560 votes. Francie Molloy held his seat for Sinn Féin in Mid Ulster, polling 19,935.

David Simpson, DUP, held his seat in Upper Bann, with 15, 430 votes, Jim Shannon, DUP, topped the poll in Strangford with 15,053 votes while Lady Sylvia Hermon, independent, retained her seat in North Down.

Paul Maskey regained his seat for Sinn Féin in West Belfast. Sammy Wilson of the DUP topped the poll in East Antrim and Nigel Dodds held the North Belfast seat for the DUP with 19,096 votes.

The SDLP’s Margaret Ritchie was relected in South Down with 18,077 votes.

The last result declared was Mickey Brady who won Newry and Armagh for Sinn Féin with 20,488 votes.

There were a total of 138 candidates in Northern Ireland and 1.2m people were eligible to vote.