South Antrim: UUP man loses out to DUP challenger

Paul Girvan consoles Danny Kinahan at the Vally Leisure Centre count venue

After what initially seemed to be quite a tight-fought race, the former soldier conceded defeat to Paul Girvan in the early hours of Friday morning.

In the end, Mr Girvan’s share of the vote was fairly comfortably ahead of his rival – standing at 38.2% to 30.8%.

Sinn Fein’s national chairman Declan Kearney came in a distant third, with 18.1% of the vote.

Alliance meanwhile took 7.4% and the SDLP 5.5%.

The result was described as “bitterly disappointing” by Mr Kinahan, who had only seized the seat from the DUP in 2015.

And since it was one of only two seats the UUP had at Westminster prior to the election, the loss will be keenly felt by the Ulster Unionist party machine at large.

Turnout in South Antrim leaped from 54.5% in 2015 to 63.4% now.

More to follow.