SINN Fein's political dominance in Mid Ulster continues after all three of its candidates were elected on the first count.
Veteran republican Ian Milne topped the poll with 7,035 votes, while former agriculture minister Michelle O'Neill secured 6,147.
Newcomer Linda Dillon was elected with 5,833.
She replaced Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness who gave up his seat in the area to stand in his native Foyle constituency.
They were joined by SDLP stalwart Patsy McGlone who had the second highest total, polling 6,209 votes.
As expected voter apathy has played a part in the Mid Ulster contest with turnout taking a drop.
With a turnout of 58.75, the figure was down on 2011 when the showing was was 65.5 percent - a fall of over six percent.
The turnout is a far cry from the 91.5 percent that turned out to vote in the Westminster elections in 1969.
The big battle in the constituency is between the DUP's Keith Buchanan and outgoing MLA Ian McCrea.
Party chiefs had allowed Keith Buchanan to be added to the ticket alongside outgoing MLA Ian McCrea after he received backing from local party members.
Since then both candidates had been going head to head for unionist votes in the area.
Just 137 votes separate the pair after the first count with Mr Buchanan on 3,628 while Mr McCrea has 3,765.
Mr Buchanan has received the backing of several senior figures in Mid-Ulster after his strong showing in the 2014 ‘super council’ elections.
Former UUP assembly member Billy Armstrong offered his daughter Sandra Overend support as she polled 4,862 first preference votes which should see her being the third woman elected to represent the constituency.
Poll topper Ian Milne said he was "very proud" of his achievement and believes the relocation of Martin McGuinness to Foyle had little impact.
"We are standing on our own two feet," he said.
"It's an endorsement of Sinn Féin policies and we are going into a new mandate and we want to move the political process forward in a positive and meaningful way."
His party colleague Michelle O'Neill was pleased with the result saying "we set out our strategy clearly to elect three people and we did that".
The SDLPs Patsy McGlone said he was delighted with his showing.
"I am absolutely delighted to be elected on the first count and my share has gone up," he said.
Mr McGlone said he was looking forward to getting back to the assembly and "equally important for me, back to the constituency and dealing with the issues that are important to people."
