Strangford: Favourite Jim Shannon in no rush to get to count
The favourite to retain the Strangford seat at Westminster was not present as the count began in Aurora Leisure Centre in Bangor.
While Jim Shannon’s main rivals – Mike Nesbitt of the UUP and Alliance Party’s Kellie Armstrong – kept a watchful eye on the vote counting process, the DUP man said he planned to arrive shortly after midnight.
Election or no election, Mr Shannon told the News Letter he had constituency business to look after before coming to the count centre to learn of the result.
Mr Shannon has held the seat since 2010 and received more than three times as many votes as the runner up – UUP’s Robert Burgess – last time out for Westminster in 2015.