Sandra Duffy (left) is congratulated by Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson on being elected and topping the poll in the Ballyarnett DEA.
Sinn Fein’s Sandra Duffy and the SDLP’s Angela Dobbins have become the first councillors to be elected on to the new Derry-Strabane “super council.”
Cllr Duffy topped the poll with 1,155 votes after the first count in the Ballyarnett District Electoral Area (DEA), 25 ahead of sitting councillor Dobbins.
She was joined after the second count by party colleague, Cllr Tony Hassan, who was just seven votes short of the quota of 1,099 after the first count
Sinn Fein’s third candidate in the DEA, Cllr Elisha McCallion, is also on the verge of being elected as she was just 134 votes short of the quota.
Independent, Dermot (Dee Quigley), who is at the forefront of a campaign for community detox centre for the North West, was just 62 votes short of the quota and looks set to become an elected representative for the first time.
Angela Dobbins is congratulated by SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey on being elected.
The battle for the sixth seat is between the SDLP’s Brian Tierney and Independent Jimmy Carr, the former SDLP councillor who stood as an Independent losing the support of the party just 48 hours before yesterday’s historic election.
With Cllr Tierney almost 300 votes ahead of Cllr Carr after the first count, it looks as if the SDLP man will win the battle.
No matter what the outcome is, it will mean the SDLP will have lost a seat in Ballyarnett.
Meanwhile, former SDLP Mayor, Gerard Diver, was returned in the Waterside DEA after the second count.
The result of the first count in the Ballyarnett DEA resulted:
Eligible electorate: 15,937
Votes polled: 7,834
Total valid vote: 7,690
Quota: 1,099
Carr, Jimmy (Ind) 665.
Dobbins, Angela (SDLP) 1,155
Tony Hassan is congratulated by Sinn Fein MLA Maeve McLaughlin on being elected.
Duffy, Sandra (SF) 1,163
Hassan, Tony (SF) 1,092
McCallion, Elisha (SF) 965
McCloskey, Danny (Alliance) 139
O’Connor, Colm (SDLP) 551
Quigley, Dermot “Dee” (Ind) 1,037
Tierney, Brian (SDLP) 963
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