Local Council Elections 2023: Sinn Fein off to good start as counting continues across NI

Sinn Fein has made a strong start as the results of Northern Ireland's Local Council Elections com in.

Just before 6pm, some 120 seats from the 462 up for grabs were filled.

Sinn Fein have secured 47 so far.

Party vice president Michelle O'Neill called on the British and Irish governments to come up with a plan to restore Stormont.

She said: "It is now time to get the Assembly up and running.

"We are very grateful to all those people who came out and voted in what appears to be large numbers for Sinn Fein candidates.

"We ran a very positive campaign.

"But on the doors the conversation was very much centred around the need to have a restored Assembly and executive up and running.

"That needs to be done now without delay. We would call on both governments to get engaged and actually make that happen.

"There needs to be a plan now for a way back to a restored executive."

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said the party is holding up "extremely well" as results continue to come in for the Northern Ireland local elections.

Sir Jeffrey was speaking at the Lagan Valley LeisurePlex in Lisburn, where the vote for Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council is currently under way.

"The DUP is holding up well, our vote here in Lisburn Castlereagh remains strong, we're winning seats in all the electoral areas," he said.

"And across Northern Ireland we're making gains in some areas, particularly in Tyrone, in Armagh, Armagh Banbridge and Craigavon council, where we're going to see a couple of gains there for the DUP.

"And in Belfast, we're also seeing an increase in our vote share. We've had our highest ever vote share in the Court electoral area in North Belfast.

"So I think that the DUP vote is holding up extremely well in this election."