Successful independent candidate David McClarty has refused to be drawn on whether he will rejoin the Ulster Unionist Party.
The UUP are one MLA short of being able to claim two ministries in the new executive. Alliance, which picked up eight seats in the assembly poll, is entitled to a ministry by right for the first time.
A parishioner of Killowen, Coleraine, Mr McClarty was previously an Ulster Unionist MLA but left the party after he was de-selected.
He said: “I am elated at having achieved the victory and I will take time to enjoy the experience.
“At this stage I am not about to make any decisions whatsoever and I will take a day or two so that I can recover from the exertions of the campaign.”
Responding to UUP leader Tom Elliott’s description of Sinn Fein as ‘scum’ at an election count in Omagh, Mr McClarty said that they were not indicative of the kind of “progressive unionism” he believed in. Mr Elliott is also a member of the C of I.