Mandy Girvan elected to new Antrim and Newtownabbey Council

Mrs Girvan, who currently sits on Newtownabbey Borough Council, was elected in the second stage of counting.

She told The Times: “I’m looking forward to working again with the people of Newtownabbey, especially Ballyclare, and keeping up the good work with community groups, which is very important.

“I look forward to being in the new Council.”

DUP MP William McCrea said the party had enjoyed some ‘very good’ results. He added: “The votes have spoken, it is now important that the elected representatives work. Making statements is one thing but actually producing the goods on the ground is vitally important. We will be ahead of other groups by far-we’re a team that works and we produce the goods.”

MLA Paul Girvan said he was ‘humbled and honoured’ that the public had returned his wife Mandy. He added: “The people have come out and supported us and we would like to thank them for that support.

“The messages we have taken from the election is that we have to move forward and give a voice for the public in the Newtownabbey area. We are there to work for them.

“We have to ensure that we are there working on a way forward for the new Antrim and Newtownabbey Council.”

Mr Girvan added that the DUP could learn lessons from the current campaign.

He continued: “I would like to wish Mandy all the best. The campaign was a pleasant campaign and we have lessons to learn from the results-we need to ensure we connect with the public. We have seen that there was a small turnout, turnout is down, we need to ensure that those who are not exercising their franchise come out and do so.

“Only 41 per cent of people voted-that means that nearly 60 per cent of people have not exercised their francise. We need to find out why politics is turning them off.”