The Alliance Party has won a local council by-election, in the not obviously promising district of Skerries, in Coleraine. It’s the first local by-election the party has won since I was its Director of Elections ten years ago. The figures on the first count were:

Alliance 694
DUP 678
UUP 625
SF 253
SDLP 219

I don’t as yet have the later figures, but obviously Alliance picked up more transfers from the Nationalist parties than the DUP managed from the UUP (some of whose votes would also have leaked to Alliance anyway). So, more sober analysis to follow; but in the meantime, congratulations to Barney Fitzpatrick and his team.