While the vote to nominate the 90 elected members of the local assembly goes ahead with the long count of ballots cast on 6 May, the partial results give Sinn Féin a slight edge over its unionist rival, the DUP, which is determined to retain the British crown. is favorable.

According to the Associated Press, Sinn Féin won 27 of the 90 assembly seats. The Democratic Unionist Party, which dominated the Northern Ireland legislature for two decades, won 24 seats. The victory means Sinn Féin deserves the premiership in Belfast for the first time since Northern Ireland’s founding as a Protestant-majority state in 1921.

It is the first time in the hundred-year history of the province, which was created in 1921 during Partition with Ireland and under tensions with Brexit.

(RE) View: United Kingdom: Sinn Féin will take the lead in Northern Ireland

“Today is a very important moment of change”with entry into “a new era”The leader of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, hailed from her constituency of Mid Ulster, promising to remove divisions. “I will provide inclusive leadership that celebrates diversity, that guarantees rights and equality for those who have been excluded, discriminated or ignored in the past”,

A victory would propel Michelle O’Neill to the position of leader of the local government, which is to be run jointly by Nationalists and Federalists under a 1998 peace deal.

The Nationalist Party has already received the highest first-preference vote (29% against 21.3%) and should not reverse the position at the end of the count.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has admitted on Sky News that Sinn Fein is set to become the new major party in the assembly.

But negotiations for government formation promise to be difficult and the risk of paralysis looms large, with federalists refusing to join the government as long as post-Brexit customs controls remain in place, which they believe United’s integrity is threatened. Kingdom. United.

Read: Northern Ireland: Towards a reunification of the island?

“I want a government in Northern Ireland, but it must be based on a stable foundation”Jeffrey Donaldson insists that the Northern Irish Protocol has been negotiated by London and the EU “Damage to the economy” of the province and its “political stability”.

months of conversation

Another party heavyweight, Edwin Poots, warned talks would take time “Hopefully weeks, or even months”While according to Northern Irish politicians, Brandon Lewis, the British minister in charge of the province, is expected to be in Belfast on 9 May.

“People have spoken and our job now is to show. I hope others do the same”Michelle O’Neill told reporters.

he called for a “Healthy Debate” On the future of Northern Ireland, believing that the new executive should tackle the rising cost of living as a priority, following a campaign during which it emphasized social and social issues rather than constitutional issues.

Marked by three decades of bloody unrest between unionists and Republicans, then Brexit, the turmoil caused by Northern Ireland fell into uncertainty in February, with the resignation of unionist Prime Minister Paul Givhan, unhappy with the situation after the situation.

(RE) SEE: Northern Ireland: The Bicentenary, the Political Crisis and Brexit

“At a time of real change for the UK after Brexit, Sinn Féin’s success capitalizes on the weakness of federalism. It does not represent a sea change in views in Northern Ireland in favor of reunification”Analysis for AFP Katy Hayward, political scientist at Queen’s University in Belfast.

She also notes the fracture of the federalist vote and the progress of the centrist Alliance Party.

blow to boris johnson

Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, where local elections were held on 6 May, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party suffered a serious setback that was underestimated “Partygate” and inflation. It lost hundreds of seats and a dozen councils to Labor and the Liberal Democrats.

(RE)Watch: Elections in the United Kingdom: A turning point for Boris Johnson?

Boris Johnson has said he is determined to stay in power. But these poor results weakened him and, worried about the 2024 legislative elections, pushed deputies from his camp to question the advisability of continuing to support him.

Boris Johnson will have to offer to persuade “A real plan of action” During the traditional throne speech on May 10 where the government will unveil its priorities in parliament, Open University political scientist Simon Asherwood said in an interview by AFP.