Sinn Féin’s Paul Maskey elected in West Belfast

Paul Maskey has topped the polls for the fifth time in a row in West Belfast, with another huge victory in the Sinn Féin stronghold.

He has topped the poll once again with 21,009 votes and a majority of almost 16,000.

His nearest rival, Gerry Carroll of People Before Profit, repeated his runner-up placing from 2019 with 5,048 votes.

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Coming in third place is the SDLP’s Paul Doherty, who just managed to leapfrog the DUP into third place in an improved performance.

Mr Doherty polled 4,318 votes while the DUP’s Frank McCoubrey polled 4,304. They were followed by the TUV’s Ann McClure on 2,010 and Eóin Millar of the Alliance Party on 1,077 votes.

Aontú candidate was next up with 904 votes, followed by the UUP’s Ben Starkey on 461, the Green candidate Ash Jones on 451 and independent Tony Mallon with 161 votes.

Turnout in the seat sits at 53.09%.