Elections 2023: It’s been a strong turnout for Alliance and from our perspective it’s been a good day, says Naomi Long

Speaking to the PA news agency at Belfast City Hall, Ms Long said: “It’s been very positive so far but it’s very early.

“It’s still too early to predict, any of the gains that we hope to make will come much later but it looks good, it’s been a strong turnout for Alliance and from our perspective it’s been a good day.

“Undoubtedly Sinn Fein has had a fantastic election, I think everyone can see that, but with the exception of Sinn Fein I think Alliance is the only party to have made significant gains at this point.”

Stormont

The Alliance leader said generally she believes those people who turned out to vote have voted in stronger numbers for parties that want to see the Stormont Assembly functioning again.

“We have argued in this election that what we need is Stormont working again,” she said. “But the message from those who have not voted is also strong. The nationalist turnout is much stronger, often 10-15% higher than in predominantly unionist areas.

“That should cause unionism concerns because if they are not motivating their people by this kind of negative campaign they have been running, then they need to think long and hard about what will motivate their voters to come out and vote for them.

“Certainly when I was at the doors at constituencies right across Northern Ireland, unionist voters were saying very clearly to me that even if they weren’t voting Alliance, they weren’t voting DUP because they felt the DUP had let them down and not going in and doing the jobs they were elected to do.

“You can discount those people and say they didn’t vote so they don’t matter, but actually they do because the lack of those people coming out to vote has had a direct impact on the outcome of these elections without a doubt.”