Sinn Fein, DUP neck-and-neck in snap Northern Ireland election

Talks to restore power to the Northern Ireland assembly begin today after Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, accused the United Kingdom government of bad faith and resurrected the prospect of a vote on Irish reunification.

The count process is under way in Northern Ireland’s snap Assembly election.

Political leaders need to form an executive to avoid the return of direct rule from London.

Though the DUP won, the party did so with a historically narrow margin, earning 28 seats to Sinn Fein’s 27 – a dramatic change from the 10-seat advantage the DUP held over Sinn Fein going into the election.

As Prime Minister Theresa May addressed the Scottish Conservative Party in Glasgow yesterday (3 March) tellers in polling stations across Northern Ireland were counting votes in the province’s election.

The DUP’s Mervyn Storey has said today has been “a wake up call for unionism” after Sinn Fein’s Philip McGuigan topped the poll in North Antrim.

“Some day Northern Ireland will vote as a normal democracy”.

Full results are not expected until Saturday due to the complexities of the proportional representation voting system.

Michelle O’Neill, who took over from the retiring McGuinness as Sinn Fein’s leader in Northern Ireland, was elected on the first count in her constituency.

Former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble, who was instrumental to the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed, said the British government should find a way to give the parties more time. In Northern Ireland this is remarkable.

Sinn Fein has previously said it would not work with Foster unless she was cleared over the cash for ash scandal – but an investigation could take a year.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams says the political institutions have reached “a defining point” over the First Minister’s refusal to step aside.

Northern Ireland has too many unionist parties and splitting votes among them has damaged their cause, a high-profile loyalist community worker has said.

With the latest results, the DUP has failed to secure 30 seats that would be required to trigger a petition of concern veto at Stormont, while the SDLP replaced the UUP as the third largest party in the assembly. “She has lost good friends here and she’s hurting a bit, so I have no doubt that Arlene’s reflecting on all of this, but we’ll support Arlene in whatever way she wants to move forward”.

The Alliance Party have increased their voteshare in this election and are likely to return their 8 MLAs, while People Before Profit, the Green Party and the TUV will all be represented in the Assembly.

Population growth favors the mostly-nationalist Catholics over the mostly-Unionist protestants.

Mr Eastwood said: “This is a very important election”.