Joe Boyle fails to secure seat in Strangford

6 May 2016

THERE was bitter disappointment for Joe Boyle in Strangford tonight as he conceded defeat in his fourth and final Assembly election.

Leaving the Bangor count before the final results were confirmed, the Portaferry politician narrowly failed to secure the first nationalist seat for the constituency.

There was a tense turnaround of events in the last hour of counting when the UUP's Philip Smith, lagging behind by almost 1,000 votes just a few hours earlier, jumped unexpectedly ahead.

Following the transfer of surplus votes from the DUP and Independent Jimmy Menagh, Smith fought back to win a second seat for his party with 3957 votes.

The final tally will have confounded even party leader Mike Nesbitt, who, only an hour before, was pessimistic about his colleague's chance.

The fifth seat went to Kellie Armstrong, of the Alliance Party.

Philip Smith joked: "The result was never in doubt and I was confident from the very start. About midday I was about to go, but I'm glad I stayed around."

Mr Smith said that he was delighted Mike Nesbitt topped the poll and that his own victory was "the cherry on the cake".

In his victory speech Mike Nesbitt paid a warm tribute to the SDLP's Joe Boyle, who was pipped at the post by his party colleague.

The UUP leader said he was "very glad" about his party's success but that it had come "very, very close" at the end.

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