 Despite her election, the results were disappointing for Dodds and her party.The DUP's share of the vote fell 14% to just over 18%.While the Westminster expenses scandal and a perceived poor performance in live debates were cited as reasons for the poor result, Dodds herself blamed the decline in DUP votes on former DUP member Jim Allister of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) splinter party, who gained 66,000 first preference votes.