Northern Ireland | Historic victory for the nationalists

(Belfast) Ahead of the Unionists in power for decades, the nationalist Sinn Féin party, in favor of the reunification of Ireland, won a historic victory in Northern Ireland on Saturday which marks a “new era”, despite the risk of political paralysis.

This victory allows Sinn Féin, the former political showcase of the paramilitary group Irish Republican Army (IRA), to appoint a local prime minister for the first time in a century of history of a province under tension with Brexit.

As the long counting of the ballots cast in the ballot boxes on Thursday to appoint the 90 elected members of the Local Assembly comes to an end, the almost final results give Sinn Féin several seats ahead of its rival, the Unionist Party. Democrat (DUP), loyal to the British Crown.

Hailing “a very important moment of change” with the entry into a “new era”, the leader of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, 45, promised to overcome divisions. “I will provide inclusive leadership that celebrates diversity, that guarantees rights and equality for those who have been excluded, discriminated against or ignored in the past. »

In Belfast, the count gave Sinn Féin 27 of the 88 declared seats on Saturday evening, against 24 for the DUP. He also received the most first preference votes (29% vs. 21.3%).

Earlier in the day, the DUP had already acknowledged through its leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, that Sinn Féin was on the verge of becoming the new dominant party in the Assembly.

The government is to be led jointly by nationalists and unionists under the 1998 peace accord.

But the talks for the formation of a government promise to be difficult and the risk of paralysis hovers, the unionists refusing to join a government as long as the post-Brexit customs controls remain in place, which according to them threaten the integrity of the UK.

“I want a government in Northern Ireland, but it must be based on stable foundations”, insisted Mr. Donaldson, deploring that the Northern Irish protocol negotiated by London and the EU “harms the economy” of province and its “political stability”.

The United States reacted on Saturday by calling on Northern Irish officials to share power as provided for in the peace accord.

Another tenor of the party, Edwin Poots, warned that negotiations would take “weeks, with a little luck, or even months”, while the British minister in charge of the province, Brandon Lewis, is expected soon in Belfast.

“Functional” government

“People have spoken and our job now is to show up. I expect others to do the same,” Michelle O’Neill said.

She called for a “healthy debate” on the future of Northern Ireland, saying the new executive should prioritize tackling the soaring cost of living, after a campaign in which she insisted on social and societal rather than constitutional issues.

In a statement, Brandon Lewis called on all parties to form a “fully functional” executive “as soon as possible”.

The Prime Minister of Ireland, Micheál Martin, stressed that it was up to “all political parties and elected officials” to “serve the interests of all the people of Northern Ireland”.

Marked by three decades of bloody unrest between Unionists and Republicans, then the turmoil caused by Brexit, Northern Ireland plunged back into uncertainty in February, with the resignation of Unionist Prime Minister Paul Givan, unhappy with the situation post -Brexit. This automatically led to the departure of Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill.

“Sinn Féin’s success benefits from the weakness of unionism […] It does not represent a radical change in opinions in Northern Ireland in favor of reunification”, analyzes in an interview with AFP Katy Hayward, political scientist at Queen’s University in Belfast.

It also notes a fracturing of the unionist vote and the progress of the centrist Alliance party (17 seats).

Setback for Boris Johnson

Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, where local elections were held on Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party suffered a severe setback, undermined by “partygate” and inflation. It lost hundreds of seats and a dozen councils to Labor and the Liberal Democrats.

Boris Johnson has said he is determined to stay in power. But these poor results weaken him and push deputies from his camp, worried about the legislative elections of 2024, to wonder about the opportunity to continue to support him.

To convince, Boris Johnson will have to offer a “real action plan” on Tuesday during the traditional throne speech where the government will unveil its priorities in Parliament, said Simon Usherwood, political scientist from the Open University interviewed by AFP.