What time are the NI election results expected?

Vote counting in the Stormont Assembly election 2022 is now underway at three count centres across Northern Ireland.

The verification of ballots began at 8am on Friday with the first of the 90 MLAs expected to be returned by the afternoon.

The counts - across Belfast, Jordanstown and Magherafelt - are likely to continue into Saturday.

Read more:Follow the results LIVE as they come in

For the last Assembly election in 2017, the count began on a Friday and the final result to be completed was the South Belfast constituency at around 3am on Saturday.

Electoral office officials will decide late on Friday whether to continue counting into the small hours to finish up, or whether to take a break and restart on Saturday morning.

It means there will be an anxious wait for the 239 candidates contesting the election across Northern Ireland's 18 five-seater constituencies.

The first stage of the counts will include an announcement on total votes polled at 606 polling stations on Thursday and percentage turnout.

An indicative voter turnout of around 54% was given by Northern Ireland's Electoral Office at 9pm on Thursday.

They said the figure was based on the average of returns from polling stations which remained open until 10pm.

The indicative turnout ranged from 60% in West Belfast to 47% in the South Antrim constituency.

The turnout at the last Assembly election in 2017 was 64.8%.

Of the 18 constituencies, several are considered key battlegrounds. Take a look at our rundown of where gains could be made or lost.

This is how the voting system works.

Both the DUP and Sinn Fein are vying to be the largest party in Northern Ireland after the election, which comes with the entitlement to nominate the next First Minister.

If opinion polls are to be believed, the result will be a fight between the two parties to lose the fewest seats and thus emerge as the largest party.

If the projections are true at the ballot box, it means Sinn Fein's Stormont leader, Michelle O’Neill, would become First Minister.

Read more:BBC NI election debate: Rating the Stormont leaders' performances in battle for votes

Read more:Review of Stormont parties' Assembly election broadcasts

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