ASSEMBLY ELECTION: Watton '˜disappointed' with result

PUP candidate Russell Watton has said he is '˜disapppointed' with his result in the election.

By The Newsroom

Published 6th May 2016, 22:12 BST

Updated 6th May 2016, 23:17 BST

Watton, a Causeway Coast and Glens councillor gained just over 1,300 first preference votes and blamed the result on a ‘low turn out’ in the Coleraine estates.

He claimed that the turnout in Ballysally and Harpur’s Hill was less that forty percent.

“That’s around 2,000 people that didn’t vote,” he told The Times at the count in the Foyle Arena.

“I have to take it is a positive that I gained 1356 first preference votes, but my attentions now turn to my Council work.

“There is a mountain of work out there to do,” he said.

Watton went on to congratulate the DUP’s Maurice Bradley who topped the poll with 4,630 votes: “I have to congratulate Maurice and all the other candidates who have been elected.

“I had very tough opposition in Maurice and I wish him well in his new role as an MLA.”