Sinn Fein, an Irish nationalist political party that has links to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), has won a historic victory by becoming the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time.
In last week’s UK local elections, Sinn Fein won 27 of the 90 seats in the Stormont assembly, beating the loyalist Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) by two seats. The remaining seats went to smaller parties—the Alliance Party got 17, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) got nine, and the Social Democratic and Labour Party got eight, with four others elected.
Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O’Neill, who served as deputy first minister of Northern Ireland until the DUP collapsed the power-sharing executive in February, said her party’s victory “represents a very significant moment of change” and “ushers in a new era.”
“Irrespective of religious, political, or social backgrounds, my commitment is to make politics work,” she said on May 7.
The British-run region remains deeply divided along sectarian lines, with Catholic nationalists aspiring toward unification with Ireland, while Protestant unionists seek to retain the status quo.
Calls for Irish unity have increased since the 2016 Brexit referendum, when Northern Ireland voted 56 percent to 44 percent to remain in the EU.
Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the UK government can call a “border poll” if it appears likely that a majority of those voting would seek to form part of a united Ireland.
If and when the executive is reestablished, Sinn Fein will be able to nominate a first minister who will be the first from the nationalist community, boosting nationalist hopes of a united Ireland.
But Brandon Lewis, the UK government’s secretary for Northern Ireland who has the power to call a border poll, suggested that the time isn’t yet right for such a poll to take place.
Questioned on BBC Northern Ireland’s “Sunday Politics” programme on the criteria for him calling a border poll, he said the nationalist vote hasn’t gone up and that the unionist vote remains higher.
“Sinn Fein haven’t gained seats; we haven’t seen a growth in the nationalist vote and indeed the unionist vote is still larger and the number of seats held by unionist parties is still larger,” Lewis said.
The DUP withdrew from the power-sharing executive as part of its protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol of the UK–EU agreement on post-Brexit trade, because it created barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
Lewis urged DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to nominate a deputy first minister to allow the resumption of a fully functioning government in the region.
He told the BBC that “it’s for the UK government to do the negotiations” with the EU on post-Brexit border issues and that the DUP and other parties should reestablish the executive to “deliver on the domestic issues for Northern Ireland.”
