N. Ireland Assembly vote changes little

BELFAST, Northern Ireland, May 6 (UPI) -- The two largest parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly picked up seats in Friday's vote count.

Some of the results from Thursday's election were still unclear at midnight, the Belfast Telegraph reported. The Democratic Unionist Party had 18 seats and Sinn Fein 14.

The Ulster Unionist Party, Social Democratic Labor Party and the Alliance Party had three seats each. Alliance, a liberal non-sectarian party, was the top vote getter in South Belfast.

Counting was slow. Some local officials blamed it on the pressure of dealing with voting for the Assembly, local councils and a referendum on alternative voting.