DUBLIN — Sinn Fein looked set to secure a significant victory in elections for Northern Ireland’s assembly, a historic first for a nationalist party.
As counting continued for a second day, Sinn Fein had received the largest number of first-preference votes on was on course to win the largest number of seats in the assembly, known as Stormont. A victory for Sinn Fein, once the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, would suggest a major shift in the region’s political balance.
“Today represents a very significant moment of change,” said Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Fein’s vice president and its leader in Northern Ireland. “It’s a defining moment for politics and for people.”
Sinn Fein, whose ultimate goal is a united Ireland, won 29% of first choice votes, overtaking the formerly dominant pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, which drew 21% in the election held on May 5, according to the BBC.
It’s the first time a nationalist party has led results since the power-sharing government was established following the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which largely ended decades of violence between Protestants and Catholics who largely made up the ranks of the unionists and nationalists respectively.
With 69 of 90 seats declared on Saturday afternoon, Sinn Fein had won 21, while the DUP had 19 and the cross-community Alliance Party held 15 and the Ulster Unionist Party 7 sets as of 3:52 p.m. in Belfast. The Alliance Party drew 13.5% of first preference votes while the UUP won 11.2%, the BBC reported.
A Sinn Fein win would deal a blow to unionism and to the U.K. Conservative government. The DUP has campaigned strongly against the Northern Irish Protocol, the part of the Brexit agreement dealing with the region and something that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government wants to get re-written.
Sinn Fein will likely now get to choose the region’s first minister. While the positions of first and deputy first minister are equal, the symbolic difference of a nationalist holding the post would be huge.
“The significance of Sinn Fein becoming the largest party cannot be underestimated” Brian Hanley, assistant professor in 20th Century History at Trinity College Dublin said. “The election of not just a nationalist as First Minister, but a republican from a tradition which rejects the partition of Ireland entirely, is seismic.”
A dominant Sinn Fein would also likely encourage those who want to see Northern Ireland unite with the Republic of Ireland, a European Union member.
Northern Ireland’s assembly is elected using a system of proportional representation known as Single Transferable Vote. Voters can select from five candidates in order of preference. Seats are then awarded in proportion to the number of votes cast, with voters’ lower ranking preferences also taken into account.
Focus will soon turn to the forming of the Executive. Under the power-sharing arrangement, the positions of first minister and deputy first minister depend on both being in place. However, the DUP has said it won’t participate if the protocol remains.
New legislation means that the assembly can continue to function for six months without an executive, though it cannot sign off on key decisions such as budgets.
