Sinn Féin has won the most votes and seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly election - beating the DUP by at least two seats. 

The party’s vote increased fractionally by 1.1% and it held all 27 seats it won in the last election. 

Meanwhile the DUP’s share of the vote plummeted by 6.7% and it has lost at least three seats - with a final seat in Foyle hanging in the balance.  

The historic result means that Sinn Féin’s Vice President Michelle O’Neill will be nominated as First Minister - the first time someone in favour of Irish unity has held the position. 

"Today represents a very significant moment of change,” a triumphant Ms O’Neill said at her Mid-Ulster count. 

"Today ushers in a new era which I believe represents us all with an opportunity to reimagine relationships in this society on the basis of fairness, on the basis of equality and the basis of social justice.

"Irrespective of religious, political or social backgrounds my commitment is to make politics work."

This has been an historic election.

An election of real change.

I will lead the Sinn Féin team to Stormont on Monday, ready to get the Executive up and running right away.

To put money in people’s pockets.

To invest in our health service.

And to build a better future for all pic.twitter.com/orrFtCIVwl

— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) May 7, 2022

Unionist voters peeled away from the DUP in significant numbers after the EU Withdrawal Agreement mandated that goods imported from Great Britain into the province would have to be checked by customs officials. 

The DUP has said it will refuse to serve in the Northern Ireland Executive until the agreement is reformed. However, the sea border has caused huge electoral damage to the party with many loyalists giving their first preference to the rival TUV because of its more hardline approach on the issue. 

Still, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson insisted he was happy with the result: 

"The unionist vote remains strong, we are the largest designation in the Assembly, I think there is a lot of spin around results and I'm very pleased with how the DUP has done in our constituencies," he told journalists.

"We've held a remarkable number of seats where people were predicting all kinds of negative things, so we have strong foundations, we continue to build on them."

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson. Picture by: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Even happier was Naomi Long - the leader of the Alliance - who took her party into third place amid a surge in support. 

“I think we’re offering them [voters] positive politics,” the East Belfast MLA reflected. 

“We’re offering them pragmatism and we’re offering them the hope of better. 

“And I think people want that. I think they know that 24 years on from the Good Friday Agreement we need to get beyond just managing divisions; we need to get to the point where we’re resolving them.”

Northern Ireland's Alliance Party leader Naomi Long speaks to the media in Belfast, Northern Ireland in June 2017. Picture by: REUTERS/Alamy Stock Photo/CLODAGH KILCOYNE

However, for the UUP and the SDLP - the two parties that dominated Northern Irish politics for decades - there was only disappointment. 

The SDLP lost their deputy leader, Nichola Mallon, in North Belfast, while UUP leader Doug Beattie only narrowly held onto his own seat in Upper Bann. 

Main image: Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Michelle O'Neill speaking to the media in the great hall at Stormont, 09-01-2020. Picture by: Niall Carson/PA Wire/PA Images