Sinn Fein has enjoyed another good day at the ballot box in the North with a landmark result in the European elections.
It was a poll-topping performance by Bairbre de Brún and was the first time a republican or nationalist party got the largest share of the votes in an election here.
But the big news story was the collapse in the DUP vote - from 175,761 first pre
ferences at the last European election five years ago to 88,346 - and the strong performance by the hardline Traditional Unionist Voice candidate Jim Allister. He recorded 66,197 in his first major outing since splitting with the DUP over its decision to go into power with Sinn Fein. His success won't make life any easier for parties trying to build bridges across the sectarian divide and create a shared future.
There was disappointment for the SDLP, who had been trying to talk up the chances of Alban Magennis. He polled 78,489 first preference votes - not enough to mount a challenge for the third seat. The bigger turnout of supporters they were working on - and banking on - failed to materialise, and they ended up short of even the 87,559 that Martin Morgan got in 2004, if up in percentage terms.
And the mood won't have been helped by the suggestion from Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson that her party may have out-polled the SDLP in Foyle.
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