Voting gets underway in Northern Ireland

If the DUP and Sinn Fein end up as the two biggest parties – as polls predict – and can not agree to form a power-sharing executive within three weeks, the governance of Northern Ireland will probably revert from Belfast to London for the foreseeable future.

Kenny “should have stayed out of it”, Tom Elliot, a former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), a DUP ally, told EUobserver.

In the presence of his wife Lynda, his son, UUP chairman Lord Empey and the party’s MEP, Jim Nicholson, he told journalists at the Park Avenue Hotel in east Belfast that after nearly five years as UUP leader he would be resigning.

On the contrary, Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Fein leader, has more of an interest now in waiting to see if the DUP will now decide that Foster has had her chance and replace her – at least temporarily while the “ash for cash” investigation is completed.

The DUP won 28 of the 90 seats while Sinn Fein won 27, narrowing the 10-seat advantage the DUP secured in a 2016 election.

That forced the dissolution of the institutions, which need nationalists and unionists in government to operate, and Mr Brokenshire called a snap election.

The energy scandal quickly became an excuse to re-open deep rifts between the parties, with ugly reminders of past struggles surfacing during the campaign.

Internal anger among Sinn Féin’s core supporters, over perceived concessions to the DUP on various key matters, will have also added pressure on the party’s leadership to eventually pull the plug on the power sharing arrangement.

The NI Assembly was dissolved in December following the resignation of Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness in response to First Minister Arlene Foster’s handling of the Renewable Heating Incentive, which is estimated to have cost the taxpayer £400m.

“The vote has increased”.

“I have said when Sinn Féin win, we win for all”.

But Mr Donaldson said: “If we can’t get a government formed within three weeks I don’t think the Westminster Government will allow another election”.

Sinn Fein’s O’Muilleoir described Brexit as “the gift that keeps on giving” for those that want a united Ireland.

“In pure terms, the buck stops here”, he said.

Northern Ireland’s future has been thrown into uncertainty after a snap election failed to deliver a clear result to address deep divisions.

Mr Adams said it was a vote of confidence in his party’s position. But while Scotland has been loudly lobbying for its interests, the Northern Ireland political establishment has been distracted by the crisis.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said he will consider joining any new powersharing government. This has been a fantastic turnaround for the SDLP. But I don’t think it’s a time for us to worry and to get cynical.