ELECTION NEWS: Campbell is re-elected in East Londonderry

The count, which took place in Londonderry, was temporarily suspended after a pipe bomb was left outside the count centre at Templemore Sports Complex.

A controlled explosion was carried out by the army and the count resumed after approximately an hour and a half.

Sinn Fein's Cathal O hOisin came second, with 6,742 votes.

Lesley Macaulay, Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - New Force, polled 6,218 votes.

The other candidates were Thomas Conway, SDLP, 5,399, William Ross, TUV, 2,572, and Bernard Fitzpatrick, Alliance Party, 1,922.

Gregory Campbell said the figures spoke for themselves.

"When you look at our share of the vote five years ago we got 42% of the vote when there were only two unionist candidates in the race.

"This time we had a TUV candidate who was a former MP who many people said would take 40% of the share of the vote that I took.

"They didn't even take half of that, and we almost got the share of the vote that we got five years ago.

"So it's a fantastic performance, a tribute to all those 12,000-odd people who voted for me, and of course the tremendous team who facilitated that victory," he said.