Sinn Fein hails ‘new era’ as it wins Northern Ireland vote

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — The Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein has won the largest number of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time.

With almost all votes counted, Sinn Fein has secured 27 of the assembly’s 90 seats. The Democratic Unionist Party has 24. The historic win means Sinn Fein is entitled to the post of first minister in Belfast for the first time since Northern Ireland was founded as a Protestant-majority state in 1921.

Sinn Fein seeks a united Ireland and has long been linked to the Irish Republican Army. But the party kept unification out of the spotlight this year during a campaign that was dominated by more immediate concerns, namely the skyrocketing cost of living.

“Today ushers in a new era,” Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O’Neill said Saturday. “Irrespective of religious, political or social backgrounds, my commitment is to make politics work.”

O’Neill stressed that it was imperative for Northern Ireland’s politicians to come together to form an Executive — the devolved government of Northern Ireland — next week. If none can be formed within six months, the administration will collapse, triggering a new election and more uncertainty.

There is “space in this state for everyone, all of us together,” O’Neill said. “There is an urgency to restore an Executive and start putting money back in people’s pockets, to start to fix the health service. The people can’t wait.”