Sinn Féin has received the most votes in the elections in Northern Ireland after the first round, reports the BBC. The party in favor of the reunification of Ireland, with 29 percent of the vote, is well ahead of the second strongest party, the pro-British DUP, which received 21.3 percent of the vote.
In the previous elections, the difference between the two parties was only 0.1 percent. What the current result means for the distribution of seats should become clear by Saturday at the latest, British media report.
Sinn Féin had long had close ties to the IRA, a movement that fought violently to join Ireland. Party leader Michelle O’Neill called the victory a “historic result” and said she would focus on rising costs of living and health care.
Paralysis
Should Sinn Féin indeed become the largest party, it would also be allowed to supply the prime minister and that means a kind of political earthquake. Until now, the post of Prime Minister has always been taken by parties who are in favor of preserving the union with Great Britain and who do not want Northern Ireland to become part of Ireland.
The formation of a government could fail due to the ongoing dispute over Brexit. The Good Friday Agreements of 1998 state that the largest nationalist and unionist parties should collaborate. Failure to do so could paralyze Northern Ireland’s politics and create a constitutional crisis requiring the British government to intervene.
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