In the aftermath of the recent elections, Belfast City Council now sees less than a third of its seats held by unionists, while Sinn Fein solidifies its position as the largest

party. The counting process for this council was the last to conclude, with the final councillor elected just before 12:15 am on Sunday.

Sinn Fein experienced a gain of four seats, resulting in a total of 22 councillors elected. Meanwhile, unionist representation has dwindled to 17 out of the 60 seats, with 14 seats for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), two seats for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and one seat for the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV).

Notably, other parties experienced significant losses in this election, including the Green Party, People Before Profit, and the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP). The leader of the Green Party NI, Mal O'Hara, lost his seat on Friday, while PUP leader Billy Hutchinson also failed to secure re-election. On Saturday, the DUP lost its council group leader, George Dorrian. Fiona Ferguson of People Before Profit was unable to secure a seat on Saturday, following the loss of her colleague Matt Collins on Friday. As a result, Michael Collins is now the sole representative of the party at City Hall and the final councillor to be elected out of Northern Ireland's 462 council members.

Overall, Sinn Fein gained four seats compared to the previous council poll in 2019, while the DUP and Alliance Party secured 11 and 5 seats, respectively, with the latter experiencing a one-seat increase since 2019. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) lost one seat, reducing its representation to five Belfast councillors. Additionally, one independent councillor and one TUV councillor were elected in the council. Photo by Macnolete, Wikimedia commons.