VETERAN Ulster Unionist Danny Kennedy and the DUP's Nelson McCausland were among yesterday's high-profile election casualties.
The DUP were hit by several blows, including the loss of their party chairman Maurice Morrow and chief whip Trevor Clarke.
- Danny Kennedy, a former minister and deputy speaker of the Assembly who had been an MLA for almost 20 years, lost out in Newry & Armagh - the victim of a strong vote for the DUP's William Irwin and healthy polling from Sinn Féin.
- Maurice Morrow, DUP leader Arlene Foster's running mate in Fermanagh & South Tyrone, was his party's biggest casualty. The peer gained some notoriety during the campaign by making a joke about the £490 million botched Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, claiming unseasonably warm weather was because "the boilers are all working".
- Nelson McCausland, a former minister, lost his seat in North Belfast. One of the DUP's best-known figures, he was eliminated amid a strong vote for the Alliance in a constituency which remained divided along nationalist and unionist lines.
- Trevor Clarke lost out in South Antrim to DUP colleague Pam Cameron in a tight contest with only around 50 votes between them.
- Alex Attwood, who has more than 30 years' experience in electoral politics, lost his seat in west Belfast, leaving the overwhelmingly nationalist area without an SDLP representative since the 1998 elections.
- Oliver McMullan lost his seat in East Antrim, following a tough fight. The Sinn Féin member's loss leaves the constituency with no nationalist representation.
- Jonathan Bell, a former minister whose claims about his party's handling of the RHI scheme saw him being suspended from the DUP and stand as an independent, was an early loser in Strangford.
- Jenny Palmer, standing for the UUP in Lagan Valley, was another casualty. Mrs Palmer, a former DUP councillor who left the party in protest at its treatment of her over the Red Sky controversy, was eliminated late yesterday.
- Jo-Anne Dobson, from the UUP, also lost her seat in Upper Bann - a victim of strong polling by her running mate Doug Beattie. Ms Dobson, the UUP's health spokeswoman, appeared to have some prior knowledge of the loss and did not turn up to the count centre in Banbridge.
- Eamonn McCann, arguably the Assembly's most colourful politician, lost his seat in Foyle just months after claiming a landmark win for People Before Profit in May. He had warned that the snap election had come "too soon" for his party and was unfortunately proved right.
