The Alliance party of Northern Ireland recorded their best election results in the local elections on Thursday 2 May, increasing to 11.5% of the vote and electing 53 Councillors.

With all 462 seats declared, Alliance saw a 65% rise in its representation. It had 32 councillors five years ago but now it has 53, with Councillors on all but one of the local Councils.

The party won 10 seats in Belfast and will continue to hold the balance of power between unionists and nationalists.

It also doubled its representation in Mid and East Antrim from three councillors to six, and for the first time in decades, it has representation in the north west with two seats on Derry and Strabane Council.

"Crucially, we've broken outside the Greater Belfast area for the first time in I would say 30 years," party leader Naomi Long told the BBC. She said it had been a breakthrough election for her party and other cross-community candidates, with many voters choosing to reject the "tribal politics" of unionism and nationalism.

Leader Naomi Long is the party’s candidate for the European Elections that will take place on 24 May.

Across the country, the DUP received the biggest vote of all parties and won the most seats in the Northern Ireland local elections with Sinn Féin returned the same number of seats it had taken five years ago. The Ulster Unionist party took 75 seats (-13) and the SDLP dropped to 59 (-7).

Political parties in Northern Ireland are to begin a fresh round of talks this week in a bid to restore power-sharing at Stormont.

Read more: NI council elections: 'New voters' behind Alliance success