A LOT of people had a lot of contrasting views about what might happen in North Belfast.
But most agreed that while there may be twists and turns, the picture would probably remain largely the same.
Five of the six elected last time out are back - all bar Alban Maginness were contesting the election.
Slightly more than half of those eligible turned out to vote this time - 52.48 per cent.
And after the first count, Gerry Kelly from Sinn Féin was elected with his party colleague Carál Ní Chuilín close behind.
"Big thank you to all the activists who worked so hard and to all the voters," Mr Kelly said
Stages two, three, four and five failed to return another candidate although the main players all inched closer to the quota.
Observers had initially suggested the DUP was somewhat fortunate to win a third seat in 2011 and the party was vulnerable this time to a resurgent UUP or the PUP.
However, the UUP's Lesley Carroll, one of the north's best-known female clerics, did not do as well as she might have hoped, collecting fewer than 2,000 first preferences.
This left her a long way behind Nelson McCausland, William Humphrey and Paula Bradley of the DUP who all secured more than 4,000 first preference votes.
The PUP's Billy Hutchinson did worse again with 1,286. He would have expected to do better.
While the party put forward its leader, it was suggested it could equally have given the nod to Oldpark councillor Julie-Anne Corr Johnston - with some suggesting she might have enjoyed greater success.
The SDLP will hope to hold onto its one seat and ran former Lord Mayor Nichola Mallon. She received 3,866 first preferences.
It was said that if the party performed poorly, however, a fourth unionist or even Alliance's Nuala McAllister, a councillor for the Castle area, would be waiting to pounce. With 2,569 votes at the end of the first stage, Ms McAllister was left needing a substantial number of transfers.
While the party was not expected to make a significant dent in north Belfast, People Before Profit enjoyed reasonable success. Fiona Ferguson polled nearly 1,300 votes, which her colleague and new west Belfast assembly member Gerry Carroll described as a "brilliant showing".
