Northern Ireland | London calls for union as Sinn Fein wins

(Belfast) After Sinn Fein’s historic victory in Northern Ireland, London on Sunday called on nationalists and unionists to unite in a local executive to ensure the “stability” of the British province, as the risk of political paralysis hangs over Brexit background.

Supporter of a reunification with the Republic of Ireland, Sinn Fein became the first Northern Irish party after a poll organized on Thursday, winning 27 seats out of 90 in the local Assembly, against 25 for the unionists of the DUP, viscerally attached union with Great Britain.

The victory of Sinn Fein, capable of reshaping the United Kingdom, allows the former political showcase of the paramilitary group Irish Republican Army (IRA) to appoint a local Prime Minister, Michelle O’Neill, for the first time in a hundred years of history of a province where Brexit has reignited tensions.

The DUP is, however, threatening to boycott a new executive, which is to be co-led by nationalists and unionists under the 1998 Good Friday peace deal, if their Brexit demands are not met.

“Above all, what we want to see […], that’s stability,” British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab told Sky News on Sunday. “We want to see an executive formed” and “the parties come together to provide that stability to the people”.

Before meeting the leaders of the local parties on Monday, the British minister in charge of the province, Brandon Lewis, also estimated on the BBC that it was about “an important moment to show that everyone can work together”.

Stability “at risk”

As her party’s victory loomed on Saturday, Michelle O’Neill hailed the entry into “a new era” for Northern Ireland, marked by political instability, promising to lead it by overcoming divisions.

But the negotiations for the formation of a government promise to be difficult. Because having come second after decades of unionist domination, the DUP – to whom the post of deputy prime minister falls – refuses to join a government as long as the post-Brexit customs controls remain in place, which according to him threaten the integrity of the Kingdom. -United. He urged London to take action to remove them.

“It is also clear that this stability is jeopardized by the problems (generated by) the Northern Irish protocol”, added Dominic Raab.

He reiterated his government’s desire to renegotiate this text approved by London and the European Union, which confers a special status on the province by keeping it in the European single market and customs union. This is to avoid the return of a hard border with Ireland to reserve peace.

While Brussels refuses, offering only adjustments, the Deputy Prime Minister said he favored negotiation, but did not rule out that London would act unilaterally to protect trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain as well as the “constitutional integrity” of the United Kingdom.

Dublin and Washington have also called on Northern Irish politicians to share power.

“Bullet in the foot”

Although Michelle O’Neill called for a “healthy debate” on the future of Northern Ireland and her party aims for a reunification referendum within five years, she said the new executive must tackle in priority to the soaring cost of living, after having campaigned in this direction.

In the streets of Belfast, Northern Irish people interviewed by AFP approve.

For Lorraine Kane, 58, a civil servant, the DUP “shot itself in the foot” by talking mainly about Brexit. “This is not what people expected from this election, more concerned” about rising prices.

Former DUP voter Jordan Black, a 26-year-old mechanic, believes that “change may be for the better” as many leaders are “stuck in the past”. “If (Sinn Fein) starts doing things that help people, then more power for them, 100%.”

Sinn Fein and the DUP have 24 weeks to find common ground. Failing this, a new election will have to be organised.

“But given the urgency of the cost-of-living and health care system crises, an executive must be formed, and we can then think about greater adjustments to the Good Friday agreement,” said Katy Hayward. , a political scientist at Queen’s University in Belfast, interviewed by AFP.