Paul Maskey repeated the electoral success of his past four elections in West Belfast with yet another huge victory in the Sinn Féin stronghold.
He topped the poll once again with 21,009 votes (52.9%) and a majority of almost 16,000.
In what was a very successful night for his party, Mr Maskey actually increased his majority from 2019 by around 1,000 votes despite his vote share dropping ever so slightly by around 1%.
The Sinn Féin MP was never in doubt of losing his seat on the night, with indications from early tallies showing that he was on track to win back the constituency.
Turnout figures for the seat sat at 53.1%; this was down from 59.1% in 2019, however the drop is in line with that seen right across the north.
As the last seat to be declared at the Titanic count centre, Mr Maskey opened his victory speech by saying: “They keep the best to the last, and I can tell you, quite clearly, that West Belfast is the best.”
In the speech, the MP of over 10 years thanked the people of the constituency for once again handing a resounding victory to his party.
“I would urge other people to join us and make sure that we continue to drive West Belfast forward in the best manner we possibly can,” he said.
“I want to work with each and every one of the other parties.”
He added that he was “delighted” that the all of the Shankill was now in West Belfast as he welcomed everyone in his constituency.
His nearest rival, Gerry Carroll of People Before Profit, repeated his runner-up placing from 2019 with 5,048 votes (12.7%).
While down on his vote share from 2019, the MLA for West Belfast said that it was “a good day” for the party, finishing second out of ten candidates.
Elsewhere, the SDLP’s Paul Doherty put in an improved performance and managed to leapfrog the DUP into third place.
Mr Doherty polled 4,318 votes on the night for a vote share of 10.9%; with a rise of 3% on 2019, it is the second election in a row where the party increased its share.
Just behind the SDLP candidate was the DUP’s Frank McCoubrey, who polled 4,304 votes (10.8%).
A drop in the DUP’s performance can be put down to the entrance of TUV into the race this time around; the TUV’s Ann McClure polled 2,010 votes for a share of 5.1%.
Meanwhile, the remaining candidates included Eóin Millar of the Alliance Party, who received 1,077 votes (2.7%), Aontú's Gerard Hermann with 904 votes (2.3%), followed by the UUP’s Ben Starkey on 461 (1.2%), the Green candidate Ash Jones on 451 (1.1%) and independent Tony Mallon with 161 votes (0.4%).