“Today is a very important moment of change” for Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein’s Northern Irish leader Michelle O’Neill said the British province would enter a ” new era “ with the victory in the Local Assembly now almost acquired by the nationalist party against the unionists, in favor of maintaining the Irish province within the British crown.
It’s a first in a hundred-year history of the province, under tension due to Brexit. “I will provide leadership that is inclusive, that celebrates diversity, that guarantees rights and equality for those who have been excluded, discriminated against or ignored in the past”said M.me O’Neill from his counting center.
Sinn Fein won 40% more first-preference votes than their main British rival, according to official results. If the final count of seats to designate the 90 elected members of the Northern Ireland Assembly is not completed, experts agree that the nationalists can no longer be caught up. A victory would propel Michelle O’Neill to the post of leader of the local government, which is to be run jointly by nationalists and unionists under the 1998 peace accord.
Risk of political paralysis
For its part, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the main unionist party and hitherto dominant in the Assembly of Northern Ireland, recorded its defeat on Saturday and recognized that the Republicans of Sinn Fein were heading for a historic victory. “It certainly looks like Sinn Fein will emerge as the first party”DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson told Sky News, repeating that his party would refuse to join a new unity government without changing the British province’s post-Brexit status.
The talks for the formation of a government promise to be difficult, with a risk of political paralysis, even if Sinn Fein has relegated the demand for reunification to the background in favor of social issues. The DUP conditions its participation in a new executive on “decisive action” of the London government against post-Brexit customs controls in the province, which he believes threaten the integrity of the United Kingdom.
“I want a government in Northern Ireland, but it must be built on a stable foundation”insisted Mr Donaldson, lamenting that the Northern Irish protocol bears “damage to the economy” of the province and its “political stability”. Another party heavyweight, Edwin Poots, warned that negotiations would take “hopefully weeks, or even months”while the British minister in charge of the province, Brandon Lewis, is expected in Belfast on Monday, according to Northern Irish politicians.
Marked by three decades of bloody unrest between Unionists and separatists and then by the turmoil due to Brexit, Northern Ireland plunged back into uncertainty in February, with the resignation of Unionist Prime Minister Paul Givan, unhappy with the post-Brexit situation. Brexit.
Setback for Boris Johnson
Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, where local elections were held on Thursday, the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a severe setback, undermined by “Partygate” and inflation, which weakens its position. The Tories lost hundreds of seats and a dozen councils to Labor and the Liberal Democrats.
Mr. Johnson said he was determined to stay in power, but these poor results weaken him and push members of his camp, worried about the legislative elections of 2024, to question the advisability of continuing to support him.
