Ulster Unionist Jim Rodgers has become lord mayor after the SDLP supported him over Sinn Féin's Tierna Cunningham after an acrimonious head count.
Mr Rodgers had the same number of votes as Ulster Unionist colleague Bob Stoker and won the office on the toss of a coin.
The SDLP's Bernie Kelly was elected deputy mayor after receiving support from the UUP and some DUP backing.
The incoming mayor said he would represent all the people of the city. "I will do what's best for the council and also for this great city of ours, regardless of the person's religion, colour, class and creed.
"It is vitally important we carry on that work that's been done for many years," Mr Rodgers said.
Sinn Féin's Paul Maskey accused the SDLP of engineering two terms as deputy mayor and one as lord mayor by abandoning the agreed system of rotating the leadership positions between parties.
However, the SDLP's Alban Maginnis said republicans had voted against two of their candidates in the past, including outgoing lord mayor Pat McCarthy.
"What Sinn Féin are complaining about is not the fact that the SDLP rotates but rather the sequence that the SDLP rotates and they want to dictate that and we are saying that we will make our own minds up about the sequence."