Local Council Elections 2023: voting under way across Northern Ireland
Polls opened at 7am and will close at 10pm
Polling stations opened today (Thursday) in Northern Ireland's local government elections.
Voters will be electing 462 councillors from 807 candidates across the 11 councils in Northern Ireland.
Polls opened from 7am and will close at 10pm.
It is the first electoral test for the parties since last year's Assembly elections and is taking place against the backdrop of the continued Stormont stalemate with the power-sharing institutions not operating as part of a DUP protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.
The poll was pushed back by two weeks due to the coronation of the King on May 6.
It has been a low-key election campaign, largely overshadowed by the visit to Northern Ireland of US President Joe Biden, commemorations of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and the coronation.
The 11 local councils are responsible for a number of services, including waste collection, street cleaning, local planning, leisure services and parks.
However, the elections may come to be seen as a measure of public feeling on larger political issues such as the ongoing suspension of powersharing and a budget crisis facing Stormont departments.