Alliance's Kellie Armstrong tops the poll in Unionist heartland Strangford

The Alliance Party's Kellie Armstrong has said she is "pleasantly surprised" to top the poll in Strangford.

Transfers from the Conservatives, the Green Party and Sinn Fein helped the Ards Peninsula woman gain 6,610 votes at stage four of the count.

Currently in second place is the DUP's Simon Hamilton with 6,262 votes, who looks likely to be elected by stage five.

At the first count Mrs Armstrong polled 5,813 first preference votes, over 2,000 more than at the same stage in 2016.

She said: "When you work for everybody you get votes from everybody.

"Alliance has been working extremely hard in Strangford. It is a fantastic result."

Mrs Armstrong said she ran her campaign locally on positive issues saying people were sick of "bickering" politicians.

"Our constituency case load has gone through the roof in the last six months," she said. "We have a great team."

In 2016 the UUP's Mike Nesbitt topped the poll.

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