UUP leader Doug Beattie retains seat in Upper Bann

Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Doug Beattie has retained his seat in Upper Bann – an outcome that left him and party colleagues relieved after an anxious day-and-a-half of counting.

Mr Beattie, who secured 9.3% of first preferences vote, has led the party since May 2021.

He has tried to transform the party into a more liberal unionist party, in a bid to woo moderate DUP voters.

Mr Beattie was elected in seventh count after relying on transfers from the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Doug Beattie said: “It was a real scrap. We always said it was all about the transfers. You never take the electorate for granted so there’s always a chance that you are going to lose your seat.

“In Upper Bann I’ve had to make unpopular decisions for the direction of the party and that might well have had an effect on me. But at the end of the day, if your message is there, you can get it through and you can be transfer-friendly, you will get elected.”

The Alliance Party has taken its first-ever seat in the constituency, with Eoin Tennyson now becoming the youngest MLA in Stormont.

He took the last seat, ultimately defeating in a tight race Sinn Fein’s second candidate, local councillor Liam Mackle.

Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd, a former Stormont minister, comfortably topped the poll with 16.5% of the first preference vote.

The election was disastrous for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) as stalwart Dolores Kelly lost the seat she had won back from Sinn Fein in 2017.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) held on to its two seats, with Jonathan Buckley being returned to the Assembly, while party veteran Diane Dodds, who had never contested Upper Bann, was elected on the sixth count.

Turnout for the area was 62%.