Sinn Fein is today tipped to top the poll for the first time in Northern Ireland when votes for candidates to the European Parliament are counted.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is expected to suffer a major hit in the election, which registered a low voter turnout of only 42.8%.

Unofficial tallies have given Sinn Fein a comfortable lead on the pack and it is believed to have secured one of the three European seats up for grabs in Northern Ireland.

The same projections for party strength suggest the DUP has been badly hit by disaffection among its voters in the wake of the Westminster expenses scandal and by a successful challenge from unionist hardliner Jim Allister.

The former DUP member who split from the party over its decision to enter government with Sinn Fein, and who now leads the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party, is predicted to have secured more than 10% of the vote.

The unofficial estimates are based on projections from party officials who watched election staff verify ballot papers at the King's Hall Count Centre in Belfast on Friday.

But the speculation will end this afternoon when the first results are announced.

Counting begins at 9am and the first results are expected by mid-afternoon.

It has been confirmed that 42.8% of people eligible to vote cast a ballot - a major drop on the figure of 51.72% turnout at the last European election.

Turnout figures were provided for Northern Ireland's 18 Westminster constituencies.

They showed that regions of unionist voting strength suffered lower turnouts than areas that are predominantly nationalist.

The highest turnout of 52.83% was in the Mid Ulster area - a constituency which returned Sinn Fein's deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness as MP at the last General Election.

The lowest turnout of 34.24% was registered in Strangford - where Iris Robinson, wife of the DUP First Minister Peter Robinson, is MP.

The total votes polled across Northern Ireland was 488,891 from a eligible electorate of 1,141,979.

The region has seven candidates fighting for the three European Parliamentary seats.

They are Stephen Agnew of the Green Party, Jim Allister of Traditional Unionist Voice, Bairbre de Brun of Sinn Fein, Diane Dodds of the DUP, Alban Maginness of the SDLP, Jim Nicholson of the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, and Ian Parsley of the Alliance party.

In the last European election the DUP topped the poll with 32% of the first preference votes - but there are predictions that its result today could drop to 20% or lower.

Other estimates suggested Sinn Fein's Ms de Brun could improve on her last European election performance of 26% of first preferences.

One tally showed the Ulster Unionist Party - which formed a new electoral pact with the Conservative Party prior to this election - securing more first preference votes than the DUP.

But with Sinn Fein believed to have secured a seat, the performance of the three unionist parties as they fight for the remaining two seats with the nationalist SDLP will be closely watched today.