This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/mar/03/dup-and-sinn-fein-on-course-to-dominate-northern-ireland-assembly

The article has changed 16 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 10 Version 11
Sinn Féin makes major gains in Northern Ireland elections Sinn Féin makes major gains in Northern Ireland elections
(about 2 hours later)
Sinn Féin, the Irish republican party, has made major gains over the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) in a snap election, leaving the two blocs poised to begin new power-sharing negotiations in Northern Ireland’s devolved assembly.Sinn Féin, the Irish republican party, has made major gains over the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) in a snap election, leaving the two blocs poised to begin new power-sharing negotiations in Northern Ireland’s devolved assembly.
The make-up of the elected chamber has been significantly altered as Sinn Féin made major gains over the DUP in a snap vote called after the collapse of the last government. The makeup of the elected chamber has been significantly altered as Sinn Féin made major gains over the DUP in a snap vote called after the collapse of the last government.
Having entered the election 10 seats ahead of Sinn Féin, the DUP’s advantage was slashed to a solitary seat as the republican party’s support surged.Having entered the election 10 seats ahead of Sinn Féin, the DUP’s advantage was slashed to a solitary seat as the republican party’s support surged.
The Ulster Unionist leader, Mike Nesbitt, announced his resignation after a poor showing, while the DUP leader and former first minister, Arlene Foster, will face intense scrutiny after her party fell below the threshold to trigger a Stormont veto mechanism. Th results mean the DUP no longer has the numbers to veto reforms in Northern Ireland such as gay marriage equality after slipping below the number of seats required to do so in the Stormont assembly.
The last power-sharing government collapsed when Foster refused to step aside during a public inquiry into the “cash for ash” scandal, the botched green energy scheme. After a tense day of counting in Omagh, Co Tyrone, Foster returned to Stormont on Friday night. By dropping from 38 seats in the last regional parliament to 28 this weekend the DUP is still just the largest party but will no longer be able to use a special power sharing mechanism designed to shoot down legislation such as loosening the region’s strict anti-abortion laws.
The nationalist SDLP also fared better than many expected, replacing the UUP as the third largest party in the assembly. The election attracted a high turnout of almost 65%. The losses mean it cannot invoke the “petition of concern” it has used in previous assemblies to veto a series of social policy proposals. The power was originally designed under the 1998 Good Friday agreement to veto any laws that alienated the minority nationalist community.
Sinn Féin’s northern leader, Michelle O’Neill, said: “I think it’s a brilliant day for equality, I think it’s a great day for democracy. The vote has increased. I think that is because people knew that action needed to be taken, they have had their say, we now need to get down to the business of fixing what’s wrong and delivering for all citizens.” However, the DUP used the mechanism to veto liberal legislation that its evangelical Christian wing opposed. The petition of concern is invoked when one of the two main parties claims there is not enough cross-community support for laws that assembly members try to bring in at Stormont.
In the last Stormont parliament unionist parties had an outright majority, which they have now lost. The balance of power in the new parliament now rests with cross-community, environmental and leftwing parties, with the Alliance party in particular in a strong position.
The other nationalist force in Northern Ireland, the Social Democratic and Labour party, also bounced back from earlier setbacks on Friday to secure 12 seats, giving it two more than the Ulster Unionists, whose leader, Mike Nesbitt, resigned on Friday night following his party’s poor showing in the election.
Nesbitt said it would have been the “height of hypocrisy” if he had not taken personal responsibility for the UUP’s poor showing in the election.
Overall, the pro-unionist parties have 40 seats while the nationalists have 39. The cross-community, non-aligned bloc now stands at 11.
In the wake of the DUP’s losses, Jeffrey Donaldson, the party’s Lagan Valley MP, said “lessons need to be learned” over the result. Donaldson said the “fracturing of unionism” did not serve the pro-union community well in this election.
Questions are now being asked in the DUP over the leadership of Arlene Foster, the previous first minister of Northern Ireland. Foster’s refusal to temporarily resign from office while a public inquiry was held into a bungled green energy scheme took place triggered the collapse of the last power-sharing executive. That decision, at a time when her party was the dominant force in the coalition, is now being seen as a major political error.
All 90 seats were declared on Saturday morning with 28 to the DUP, Sinn Féin on 27, the SDLP with 12, the Ulster Unionists falling to 10, the cross-community Alliance party with eight, the Green party securing two, he hardline Traditional Unionist Voice coming back with one seat and the leftwing People Before Profit party going down to one. The Independent Unionist and justice minister in the last coalition, Clare Sugden, was also re-elected.
The results mean that the DUP and Sinn Féin will once again lead the negotiations aimed at creating a new power-sharing government in Belfast when they take place on Monday. However, the prospect of the parties reaching agreement in the three-week timeframe imposed by the Northern Ireland secretary, James Brokenshire, appears remote.The results mean that the DUP and Sinn Féin will once again lead the negotiations aimed at creating a new power-sharing government in Belfast when they take place on Monday. However, the prospect of the parties reaching agreement in the three-week timeframe imposed by the Northern Ireland secretary, James Brokenshire, appears remote.
If that deadline passes, the government would be obliged to call yet another snap election, but it may instead opt to put Stormont in cold storage and reintroduce direct rule.If that deadline passes, the government would be obliged to call yet another snap election, but it may instead opt to put Stormont in cold storage and reintroduce direct rule.
The DUP emerged with 28 seats, Sinn Féin had 27, SDLP 12, the UUP 10, the Alliance party eight, the Greens two, People Before Profit one, the Traditional Unionist Voice one and one independent unionist. Michelle O’Neill, who replaced a gravely ill Martin McGuinness as leader of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland at the start of the year, indicated that her resurgent party was still up for a deal to restore power sharing with unionists.
That leaves 40 unionists and 39 nationalist/republicans, with the remainder of the 90 MLAs affiliated to neither tradition. She said: “The vote has increased. I think that is because people knew that action needed to be taken. They have had their say, we now need to get down to the business of fixing what’s wrong and delivering for all citizens.”
Nesbitt has said he will remain as UUP leader until a successor is found. He said it had been an “absolute honour” to lead the party. “In pure terms, the buck stops here,” he said. The DUP took a major electoral hit over the controversy concerning the scheme that became known as the ”cash for the ash” scandal. Due to poor accounting the renewable heat incentive resulted in farmers and small businesses making £1.60 for every £1 they invested in boilers fired with wood pellets and other recyclable materials.
He said his real regret was that society appeared to have emerged from the election more polarised. Nesbitt said the electorate had rejected his hope for a post-sectarian vote. It will now cost taxpayers in Northern Ireland an estimated £500m. The DUP was criticised first for championing the scheme through i Foster, and then for defending the project despite the spiralling cost to the public purse.
“We will get there,” he said. “Some day Northern Ireland will vote as a normal democracy. We will vote in a post-sectarian election, but it’s now clear it will not happen during the duration of my political career.”
At least Nesbitt won his assembly seat; other high-profile MLAs were not so fortunate. The loss of former minister Danny Kennedy’s seat in the Newry and Armagh border constituency symbolised the demise of the Ulster Unionists. Despite public anger at the DUP, who were accused of mishandling and defending the botched green energy scheme which could cost the taxpayer half a billion pounds, the larger unionist party easily beat off the challenge from the UUP.
Arriving at the Titanic Exhibition Centre where all four Belfast constituencies were being counted, the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, paid tribute to retired deputy first minister Martin McGuinness, who left the post due to ill health.
After referring to the party’s increased share of the vote as a “big thank you to Martin McGuinness and his family”, Adams said there would be “no return to the status quo” after the election.
Adams appeared to adopt a hardline stance over Foster, insisting that the DUP should nominate someone else as either the first or deputy first minister.
But the DUP MP for East Antrim, Sammy Wilson, said it was up to “the DUP and the DUP alone” to pick its choice as first minister should the party remain the main force in the new Stormont parliament.
O’Neill, who replaced McGuinness, topped the poll in her Mid Ulster constituency with 10,258 first preference votes. After her election, O’Neill said the will was still there to rebuild a power-sharing coalition with unionists.