credit, Charles McQuillan / Getty Images
Michelle O’Neill, 45, will be Northern Ireland’s first female national leader
The nationalist Sinn Fein party won the most votes in this week’s election in Northern Ireland, a result unheard of in the nation’s history.
According to the final count released on Saturday (7/5), Sinn Féin won 29% of the vote and 27 of the 90 seats that make up the Belfast Assembly (the DUP, the Democratic Unionist Party, came in second with 25 seats). . Sinn Féin, once the political arm of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), won the election against the majority Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which received 21.3% of the vote, and Alianza, the liberal centre, with 13.5%.
Thus, its leader, Michelle O’Neill, will try to run for prime minister of the nation, which is part of the United Kingdom.
This position has not been held by any nationalist politician since the founding of Northern Ireland after the 1921 Partition Agreement of Ireland.
A Sinn Féin victory does not automatically give O’Neill the position of prime minister, who would not be able to take the job unless the DUP agreed to appoint a deputy prime minister.
Under the Northern Ireland power-sharing system of government, the position of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister must be shared between the largest pro-UK unionist and nationalist parties.
In this region, the position of prime minister and deputy minister is equal despite their names. To govern, both ministers need the support of the other.
‘The beginning of a new era’
Michelle O’Neill promised to work with representatives from all political fields “by association, not division.”
However, it also heralded the “beginning of a new era”. Sinn Fein’s main goal is secession from the United Kingdom and reunification with Ireland.
credit, average PA
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson (centre) removed Paul Gevan (left) as Northern Ireland’s prime minister in protest of the Brexit protocol
The nationalists’ historic victory comes after political turmoil in Northern Ireland, where the Democratic Unionist Party – which had ruled for two decades – ousted its prime minister over the Brexit protocol in Northern Ireland.
This protocol, about which unionists maintain an internal divide, is an agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union to prevent the return of the physical borders on the island of Ireland due to Britain’s exit from the European Union.
A referendum to unify Ireland?
Sinn Féin’s main objective is to get Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and become a country with the Republic of Ireland.
But this does not mean that the electoral victory of the Nationalist Party facilitates, in the short term, the holding of a referendum on the separation of this region from the United Kingdom and the reunification of Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which followed the signing of the so-called Good Friday Agreement, stipulated that Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom and “will not cease to do so without the consent of the majority of the population of Northern Ireland to vote”.
It also requires the Northern Ireland Secretariat (Ministry) in London to agree to call a referendum if it appears likely that a majority of Northern Ireland wants to join Ireland.
Analysts suggest that the Nationalists may start arguing, based on the recent electoral victory, that more voters in Northern Ireland are in favor of Irish reunification to hold a referendum.
But in fact, the percentage of the nationalist vote has decreased since 2017, and this indicates that there is no majority desire for the referendum.
Nor do opinion polls show a majority in favor of Irish reunification.
The most recent one, published in April, indicates that only a third of Northern Ireland’s people are in favor of leaving the UK and joining Ireland.
credit, France Press agency
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