Northern Ireland European electionNorthern politicians believe that between 500,000 and 600,000 people voted in yesterday's European Parliament election to return three Northern Ireland MEPs to Strasbourg and Brussels.
The different parties reported a "steady trickle" of voters at the North's 612 polling stations throughout yesterday, and by close of voting they hoped that between 50-55 per cent of the North's 1.1 million voters exercised their franchise.
Verification of votes takes place today and the count won't start until Monday morning. While the full turnout is not yet known there was some concern that for Northern Ireland, where the tribal or green/orange nature of politics generally ensures high polls, the overall turnout will be relatively low.
Most parties believed, however, that the 50-55 per cent turnout figure would be achieved, which would mean between 550,000 and 605,000 people voted.
Former SDLP finance minister Dr Seán Farren, who was operating throughout North Antrim yesterday to try to get the party vote out for SDLP candidate Mr Martin Morgan, said he had some concerns about turnout.
But speaking around teatime he hoped there would be an evening surge of voters.
The two parties with the strongest electoral machines, Sinn Féin and the DUP, said they were happy that their supporters came out in relative strength to vote respectively for Ms Bairbre de Brún and Mr Jim Allister.
They were confident last night that these two politicians would be the first elected on Monday. The contest for the third seat is viewed as being between Mr Jim Nicholson for the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr Morgan, and Independent candidate Mr John Gilliland.
Socialist Environmental Alliance candidate Mr Eamonn McCann also hoped to poll well, as did Ms Lindsay Whitcroft of the Green Party, although both campaigned with lesser resources than the other five candidates.
Mr McCann did not, in fact, vote for himself yesterday as he was in Dublin attending the funeral of Mary Holland, the mother of his two older children. "My priorities over the last few days have had to be with my children, Kitty and Luke, and their mother. I hope in the election I have given voice to some of the humanist values that defined Mary Holland's life and journalism," he said in a statement.
Mr Nicholson remained favourite to take the third seat.
Sinn Féin complained that members of the British army and PSNI were photographing and videoing voters as they turned up to polling stations. West Belfast Assembly member Mr Michael Ferguson said officers filmed voters at St Aidan's school on the Springfield Road. "This sort of blatant intelligence gathering is unacceptable and is clearly designed to intimidate voters from going to the polls," he said.
Meanwhile, a Belfast woman, Ms Mary Ward, took a High Court action yesterday because she was not allowed to vote because she did not have the required identification card, even though she applied in time for one.
