The Ulster Unionists are facing electoral meltdown in Belfast as a second day of counting in the council elections gets under way.

With no repeat of the delays which dogged the Assembly results, the DUP, Sinn Fein and Alliance were mirroring their Stormont performances and were set to consolidate their grip on local government.

But the DUP was in danger of losing overall control in Castlereagh — First Minister Peter Robinson’s old fiefdom — while Traditional Unionist Voice hopes of a surge in Ballymena appeared to be dashed.

With around half the seats announced, the DUP was on 133, Sinn Fein on 106, Ulster Unionists 63, SDLP 59, Alliance 32, the TUV 6, three Green councillors and 22 independents.

In Belfast the UUP, which once dominated the ‘Dome of Delight' with around 75% of the whole council, now looks likely to lose six seats to become the second smallest grouping in the chamber — only marginally ahead of the Progressive Unionist Party.

Sinn Fein, meanwhile, is expected to retain its position as the largest party with gains in East Belfast and the likelihood of further seats in the north of the city.

Longstanding UUP man Jim Rodgers, whose first preference vote fell by around 1,000, branded the election a disaster but blamed bigger party issues, and not dissatisfaction with individual candidates.

“I am bitterly disappointed at the results for the UUP in Belfast City Hall,” he said.

“We have seen a follow-on from the Assembly election.

“We need to have a post-mortem to try and establish why our vote has gone down,” Mr Rodgers added.

Alliance, whose four members have held the balance of power at the City Hall for the past four years, is still enjoying the ‘bounce' effect from Naomi Long's Westminster win last year.

Maire Hendron topped the poll in Pottinger for the first time with 1,895 first preference votes.

In Castlereagh, the DUP’s long-term dominance was under threat as a result of an Alliance surge in the east of the city, the tide which cost Mr Robinson his Westminster seat this time last year.

Tensions were were high in Ballymena last night as the TUV's hopes of a surge in the council elections were crushed by the DUP.

Just one TUV candidate — veteran councillor Roy Gillespie — clung on to his seat, with another four set to lose theirs to the DUP. A total of 10 DUP candidates had been elected, including Ballymena mayor Maurice Mills and Paul Frew MLA, who also topped the Assembly poll for North Antrim.

Mr Frew said the message from the electorate was that the TUV was “too negative” and “too destructive” for mainstream politics in Northern Ireland.

On the nationalist side, a jubilant Monica Digney — the first Sinn Fein candidate to sit in Ballymena — was elected without reaching the quota and the SDLP's Declan O'Loan breathed a sigh of relief after his loss at Assembly level, as he safely secured his council seat.