British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern in the Welsh capital city of Cardiff on Friday to review Wednesday's election to the Northern Ireland assembly, Downing Street said Thursday.

They are expected to review the steps that could be taken to revive the 108-seat Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly and power-sharing, home-rule executive.

A further round of negotiations is also expected to begin soon afterwards, according to the local media.

The assembly was suspended more than a year ago and the parties in Northern Ireland went into the election against the backdrop of a deadlocked political process.

Votes are being counted from 0900 GMT Thursday, with the final result expected to emerge early Friday evening, barring recounts.

However, initial indications showed a robust performance by hard-line Protestant and Catholic parties.

Earlier on Thursday, Northern Ireland Chief Electoral Officer Denis Stanley said the turnout appeared to be lower than in previous elections.

"Turnout seems to be somewhere between 50 to 60 percent, some of the polling stations a little higher than others," he was quoted by reports reaching here as saying.

Northern Ireland has been plagued by three decades of political and sectarian violence between Protestants committed to keeping the union with Britain and Catholics who want to end it and unite with the Irish Republic.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2003)