Victorious, Sinn Fein promises a new one in Northern Ireland


BELFAST (Reuters) – Sinn Fein vowed that Northern Ireland would enter a new era on Saturday after its victory in the regional parliament elections, a first in the British province for the nationalist party that favors the reunification of the Ireland.

By early evening, with just two seats remaining, Sinn Fein had won 27 seats, three more than its main pro-British rival, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), according to official results.

“Today marks a very important moment of change. It is a defining moment for our politics and for our people,” said Michelle O’Neill, leader of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland.

It is the first time that the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which for decades fought the British army, is in a position to rule Northern Ireland after a century of Unionist and Protestant since the creation of the province in 1921.

It is time to have a “healthy debate” on the question of the reunification of Ireland, estimated Michelle O’Neill, while a majority of Northern Irish people (56%) had voted against Brexit and that the The effective exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU) resulted in the establishment of a de facto border between the province and Great Britain.

The DUP did not say its last word, however, with the 1998 Good Friday Peace Accords, which ended the civil war, providing that a Nationalist Prime Minister cannot lead the province without a Unionist Deputy Prime Minister. .

However, the DUP casts doubt on its willingness to share power with Sinn Fein. Its leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, said on Saturday that his party’s decision would depend on London reforming the “Northern Irish protocols” that have governed trade with the EU and Britain since Brexit.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to deliver a speech on the subject next week.

In the absence of a government agreement between Sinn Fein and the DUP, it would once again be London’s responsibility to direct the affairs of Northern Ireland (“direct rule”), as has largely been the case in recent years.

(Report Amanda Ferguson and Conor Humphries, French version Tangi Salan)



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