Watch: Faughan victors on hustings

Sinn Féin’s Paul Fleming was the third candidate to be elected in the area.

The SDLP’s Brenda Stevenson, Gus Hastings and Jim McKeever were all outpolled by independent Paul Hughes on first preferences but Mr Hastings and veteran SDLP candidate Mr McKeever, who first put his name forward alongside Mr Fleming in the rural Londonderry ward in 1997, were eventually elected at the last stage without having reached quota.

The UUP’s Ronnie McKeegan polled respectably once again but there weren’t sufficient transfers for him here.

The loss of Mrs Stevenson contributed to a drop from 15 councillors across 46 Londonderry and Strabane seats (33 per cent of councillors) to just 10 councillors across 40 new seats (25 per cent) for the SDLP.