IT was the end of the Beggs dynasty in East Antrim as an Ulster Unionist veteran lost his seat at the Assembly.
In a major blow to the UUP, Roy Beggs became one of the first big names to fail to regain their seat at Stormont.
The veteran politician was eliminated in stage two of the count early yesterday evening after receiving just 3,549 votes. He benefited from only 85 transfers from the Green Party's Mark Bailey and the SDLP's Siobhán McAlister, after they were eliminated in the first count.
A long-standing member of the party, Mr Beggs was first elected to the Assembly in 1998 and had followed in the footsteps of his father Roy Beggs senior, who served as East Antrim MP for more than 20 years.
He was described as an "incredible asset to the party", with UUP leader Doug Beattie saying it was a "loss".
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But fortune was on the side of Mr Beggs' running mate John Stewart, who took the first seat in the constituency after he was elected on the third count.
He said while he was delighted to be elected, he was disappointed that his UUP colleague had lost his seat.
The DUP's Gordon Lyons had earlier topped the poll in the constituency. The economy minister secured 6,256 first preference votes, while his party colleague David Hilditch received 5,662 votes.
Considered a unionist stronghold, in the 2017 Assembly election, the DUP and UUP both won two seats while the Alliance took a fifth.
Alliance candidate Stewart Dickson received 5,059 with his party colleague Danny Donnelly on 4,224.
The TUV's Norman Boyd secured 3,661 first preference votes, while the constituency's only female candidate, the SDLP's Ms McAlister, had 1,200 votes and Mr Bailey of the Green Party receiving 754 votes.
