Northern Ireland election

The former political wing of the IRA looks set to claim top spot in elections in Northern Ireland for the first time this weekend.

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. The main nationalist and unionist rivals are obliged to share power under the terms of the 1998 peace deal. That raises the prospect of a stalemate with no new government being elected as Britain and the EU are at an impasse in talks on how to remove many of the checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

The expected victory could bring the once-remote prospect of a united Ireland closer, as Sinn Fein is already the most popular party in the Republic of ...

The main nationalist and unionist rivals are obliged to share power under the terms of the 1998 peace deal. That raises the prospect of a stalemate with no new government being elected as Britain and the EU are at an impasse in talks on how to remove many of the checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the IRA, looked set to claim top spot in elections in British-controlled Northern Ireland for the first time on Friday, a historic shift that could bring the once-remote prospect of a united Ireland closer.

Sinn Féin on track to be largest party at Stormont, as Alliance experiences 'surge'

“People decided to send a very clear message that nationalists should not be locked out of the first minister position. Unionists object to the additional checks on goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Britain as a border in the Irish Sea. The DUP is very much in the game at the moment. Ms Long, speaking in Belfast, dedicated her victory to her father-in-law. “I feel very positive.” The percentage vote share for both the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP declined. I have made it clear we need the government to take decisive action on the protocol. “We have got a lot to do this summer.” “There is all to play for. At the close of play just over half of the 90 seats have been filled. Sinn Féin is on 18 seats, the DUP on 12, Alliance on eight, the UUP on four, SDLP on three and others on two. Sinn Féin was on the brink of making history on Friday as the first nationalist party to hold the position of first minister in the North.

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All 90 seats will be assigned to a party as the results are announced, so keep checking back for updates. Sinn Féin (SF) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are in a race for the top spot, with pre-election polls suggesting the nationalist SF party could win the largest share of seats for the first time in Northern Ireland’s history. Follow the results of the Northern Ireland 2022 election in our live interactive chart

Sinn Fein has topped the first preference vote with a 29% share and is on course to become the largest party at Stormont while the DUP received 21.3% share ...

The TUV sees the biggest swing since 2017, at +5%, after attracting 7.7% of first preference votes. The DUP received 21.3% share of the first preference vote - a drop of 7% since the last Assembly election in 2017. Northern Ireland will have to wait another day for the final results of the Assembly election after Sinn Fein topped the poll with a 29% first preference vote share and is on course to become the largest party at Stormont.

The assembly must meet within eight days of the election, but it could be up to six months before a new executive is formed.

That election has to take place within 12 weeks of that announcement. It has also indicated that it will not return to an executive without the removal of Irish Sea border checks. Yes. Elected members can switch party up to the day they sign the register. Amendments made to the Northern Ireland Act in February this year are aimed at preventing the assembly collapsing as it did in 2017 after a rift between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist party. The ministers in place would lose their office and the Northern Ireland secretary would be legally obliged under the Northern Ireland Act to name a date for a second election. In the event of a tie in the number of seats won, the first minister post will go to the party with the most first-preference votes.

And three, the great political row that has dominated Northern Irish politics since Brexit—over the so-called protocol establishing new border controls—was ...

“The simple reality is if you want Northern Ireland to work, we need a new offer on the protocol and a new historic compromise,” says Paul Bew, a professor of Irish politics at Queen’s University in Belfast who was intimately involved in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement. The final compromise itself matters less than the fact that everybody—the EU, Britain, the Republic of Ireland, and the two (or three) sides in Northern Ireland—must be equally unhappy with it. Northern Ireland can feel like a land where raw power and violence still matter in a way that should not be the case in a modern state. If you’re confused, that is because the whole issue is so fiendishly complicated that nobody has managed to solve it in the six years since Britain voted to leave the EU. Under the terms of this agreement, a trade-and-customs border was erected between Northern Ireland and mainland Great Britain (that is, within the same country), in order to avoid one being imposed between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (that is, between two different states that share the same island). Ever since, Northern Ireland’s unionist parties have fiercely resisted this protocol, arguing that it is unfair because it prioritizes the wishes of one community in Northern Ireland (nationalists) over the other (unionists). In Thursday’s elections two things happened, each pulling in the opposite direction. (The truth is, neither the U.K. nor the EU has ever fully implemented the protocol: The British government has unilaterally extended “grace periods” for businesses to avoid disruption, while the EU has agreed not to implement parts of the protocol that would restrict the flow of medical supplies from Britain to Northern Ireland.) Yet because it has not been implemented in full, the situation has never become so intolerable that anyone has actually changed it. As of today, Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party, the most successful unionist bloc in Thursday’s election, have six months to set up a new power-sharing executive (a Northern Irish government, essentially) before the British government imposes direct rule from London and sets a date for another round of elections to break the deadlock. In fact, in Northern Ireland there can be no Alexander—and that is the point. The fear, though, is that the situation cannot last much longer. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” asks Alice of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” replies the cat. Under the Good Friday Agreement, power must be shared between the two largest designations elected to the Northern Irish Assembly, which has thus far been made up of blocs identifying as unionist and nationalist. And three, the great political row that has dominated Northern Irish politics since Brexit—over the so-called protocol establishing new border controls—was tested with the public, and while those that oppose it have hardened in their opposition, a majority voted for parties that are fine with it. While more people are now voting for the third-way Alliance Party, which argues that other bread-and-butter issues matter more than unionism or nationalism, for now, Northern Ireland’s political and constitutional reality remains unchanged.

Irish republicans overtake divided unionists for first time since Northern Ireland's foundation a century ago.

“When Jeffrey Donaldson refused to say whether he would nominate a deputy first minister if a nationalist got the top post, that was a real affront to democracy,” he said. “We’ve heard since 1998 that this place is all about managing division,” she said, referring to the year of the Good Friday peace accord that envisioned a lasting partnership between the British Protestant and Irish Catholic blocs. “It fueled a mood within nationalism to make sure that a nationalist was ‘allowed’ to be first minister. “We want to reconcile our community and create a united community, not one that is divided constantly along orange and green lines.” Counting was expected to run past midnight and resume in some districts Saturday morning. It would be the first time since Ireland’s partition a century ago that the British north is led by a politician committed to ending its union with Britain. Surging support for Alliance appeared likely to knock out the assembly’s only two Green Party members, too. “We need to see the United Kingdom government take decisive action on the protocol. So I totally understand the mood that has led to this huge Sinn Féin vote.” Under the election’s complex proportional representation rules, voters rank candidates in order of preference. Both posts must be filled as a joint ticket agreed by Sinn Féin and the DUP; either side can block government formation. In each round, the least popular surviving candidates are eliminated and their votes are transferred to other politicians still in the running.

Out of an eligible electorate of 87,156, the total votes polled stood at 59,693, with a 68.49% turnout. Early indications showed it seemed to be fairly ...

The fifth and final seat was given to the DUP's William Irwin, who fell short of the quota with 9,784 votes. Taking the fourth seat was Sinn Fein's Liz Kimmins with 9,969 votes. Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy topped the poll this year after the first count, with 9,847 votes.

Grassroots Tories blame the PM for the loss of their seats; in Northern Ireland's elections, Sinn Féin top the first-preference vote.

Many grassroots Tories laid the blame at Johnson’s door for the loss of their seats. Lastly, there are frequent changes in ward boundaries and the number of councillors per ward, to maintain equality of representation. You might have noticed that the tallies of the number of seats gained and lost so far by each party differs between outlets. That would put a question mark over O’Neill becoming first minister, but not alter the profound psychological impact of a Sinn Féin victory. With transfer votes still being counted on Friday night, it was clear the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) had dramatically lost its pre-eminence by slumping to 21.3% in the first preference vote. A quick note to explain the data we’re publishing. The Liberal Democrats have won 863 seats, so have gained 189 seats in total. We have to listen to the voters. “It won’t be enough to win a 1997-style landslide... “Here, then, is how Labour might raise the current ceiling on its performance,” he says. “I think he is unique as a politician in being able to cut through. What they’re telling us in places like Wandsworth and of course in Westminster.

Northern Ireland on Saturday resumed counting ballots from an election that has put the nationalist Sinn Fein party on course for a historic victory.

The other big winner was the cross-community Alliance party, which said its strong showing in third place underlined the need for Northern Ireland to move past old divisions. DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said the government in London should rip up the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, which unionists argue threatens their place in the wider UK. The party, which wants a referendum on reunifying Ireland a century after Northern Ireland was created as a Protestant statelet, is targeting 28 seats to claim the role of first minister for leader Michelle O'Neill.

Counting is set to resume in the Northern Ireland Assembly election today with Sinn Fein firmly on course to emerge as the largest Stormont party.