He topped the poll in The Moor DEA by surpassing the 1,292 by polling 1,374 first preference votes.
There are four remainng seats are for grabs in the The Moor among the other nine candidates.
After the first vote, the current SDLP Mayor of Derry and Strabane Council John Boyle polled 1,082 first preference votes.
In second place is People Before Profit candidate and veteran trade unionist Eamonn McCann who polled 1,035 first preference votes.
Sinn Fein have fielded four candidates and out of those four sitting councillor Patricia Logue has polled the most first preference votes with 778.
Alliance candidate Colm Anthony Cavanagh polled only 122 votes after the first count.