Thursday, March 28

Historic victory for Sinn Féin in the elections in Northern Ireland

The nationalist party Sinn Féin has obtained 29% of the first preference votes in the regional elections held in Northern Ireland this Thursday, which also confirm the rebound of the center and the division in unionism, which fuels fears of a boycott against the formation of a power-sharing government. The provisional count suggests that the former political arm of the IRA, and a staunch supporter of Ireland’s reunification, is on course for a historic victory pending the final composition of the 90-seat Belfast Assembly.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) received 21.3% of the vote, while the Alianza Party, a non-sectarian liberal center, obtained 13.5% and consolidated its third position. With this result, the leader of Sinn Féin in the region, Michelle O’Neill, will stand for the post of chief minister, a position never held by a nationalist politician in the hundred-year history of the British province.

The counting of the rest of the transfer of votes between candidates, as allowed by the complex electoral system in Northern Ireland, will determine the final distribution of deputies in the Parliament of Stormont. “I feel very positive, I think we ran a very positive campaign,” O’Neill said today, while the party’s president, Mary Lou McDonald, assured that they have won “the most important elections in a generation.”

After retaining his seat, O’Neill reiterated that he wants to “work cooperatively with others” to solve problems that affect citizens, such as “the cost of living or healthcare.” Sinn Féin has tried during the campaign to highlight its concern over these issues, but the question of reunification has once again grabbed unionism’s attention at a time when Brexit, they say, puts their prized union with the British crown in jeopardy.

Unionist boycott of the government

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the majority for the last 20 years, reiterated that it will not enter into an Executive with the Republicans if the talks held by London and Brussels do not lead to the elimination of the Brexit protocol for the region. “Until this issue is resolved, you can have any elections you want, but there will be no government until we fix the protocol issue,” warned Ian Paisley, a DUP MP in Westminster.

The unionist leader, son of the historic reverend of the same name, trusted that in light of the election results, London “now has to focus on solving” the problems that post-Brexit trade arrangements are causing in Northern Ireland. The protocol requires reviewing the goods arriving from Great Britain for the entry of products into the European community market, while preventing a hard border between the two Irelands, key to the peace process.

However, this solution has raised political tensions, especially in the Unionist-Protestant community, which sees its position in the United Kingdom in danger when more nationalists wave the flag of unification. For this reason, the DUP itself forced the fall of the Executive last February and now has no intention of presenting, in the event that it comes second in the elections, a candidate for the post of deputy chief minister of Michelle O’Neill. According to the peace agreement of Good Friday (1998), which put an end to the conflict, neither of the two positions can exist without the other and although both have the same status, the position of chief minister has an enormous symbolic load for unionism Protestant.

Rise of alternatives to unionism and nationalism

As the polls during the campaign predicted, the electorate’s weariness with the constant constitutional crises has caused the rise of formations not aligned with the two traditional blocs such as the Alianza Party, led by Naomi Long, fifth force in the 2017 elections. , from a non-sectarian liberal center, could now establish itself in third position, not far from the DUP, to enter the next Executive with force.

During the previous legislature, Long was part of an autonomous government dominated by the DUP, Sinn Féin, the nationalist Social Democratic and Labor Party (SLDP) and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), which have now obtained 9,1 and 11, 2% of first preference votes, respectively. Brexit, rejected by the Northern Irish electorate in the 2016 consultation, has taken its toll on the DUP, which continues to defend it, and has caused the “division” of the Protestant bloc, as its leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, acknowledged today.

“Unionism cannot afford this division. Seats can be lost because of it, even if we have common interests because of our belief in the union (with the United Kingdom) or because of our opposition to the protocol, ”said Donaldson. In reality, only the Traditional Voice of Unionism (TUV), a split from the DUP that today obtained 7.6% of the vote, also wants the elimination of the protocol, since the UUP – which rejected Brexit – understands, like the nationalists, that it has benefits for the region but that its operation can be improved. Thus, Donaldson could remain alone in his opposition to entering a power-sharing government, which would not, however, prevent a long institutional crisis in Northern Ireland.



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