LONDON (AP) – Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein made big gains in Northern Ireland’s local elections, repeating its success in last year’s assembly elections, when it first became the biggest party.
After counting was completed on Saturday afternoon, Sinn Fein, which seeks the unification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland, held 144 of the 462 local government seats. Its main rival, the Democratic Unionist Party, won 122 seats, while the centrist Alliance Party won 67.
Michelle O’Neill, deputy leader of Sinn Fein, said the results were “thrilling”.
He added that his party’s success was a message to voters that Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government, which has been paralyzed for more than a year, needs to get back to business.
Belfast’s semi-autonomous government has been suspended since the DUP, which wants to keep Northern Ireland part of the UK, walked out more than a year ago to protest the post-Brexit customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the country of the United Kingdom.
Under the power-sharing rules established by the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, the main British unionist and Irish nationalist parties must govern together.
“This election was an opportunity to send a clear signal … to support positive leadership and a party that wants to get the Assembly going,” O’Neill said.
He said the DUP boycott of the assembly “cannot continue”, and that the British and Irish governments must work together and help resolve the political deadlock in Northern Ireland.
In February, the United Kingdom and the European Union agreed a deal to overcome their thorny post-Brexit trade dispute over Northern Ireland. The so-called Windsor Framework aims to ease customs checks and other obstacles for goods moving into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK that were imposed after Brexit to maintain an open border between the North and its EU neighbor, the Republic of Ireland.
The open border is a key pillar of the Northern Ireland peace process.
The UK and the EU hailed their agreement as a decisive breakthrough in their often contentious relationship. The deal also gives Northern Ireland politicians a mechanism, known as the Stormont Brake, to challenge new EU trade rules that could apply, a key unionist demand.
But the DUP rejected the deal and has continued to refuse to take part in power-sharing government.
Sinn Fein won the largest number of seats in the Northern Ireland assembly in May 2022 in a historic victory. It was the first time they had won the DUP, which had dominated the legislature for two decades.
