Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), has won its first electoral victory in Northern Irish history. Sinn Fein has called for discussing the creation of a united Ireland.
Sinn Fein received 29 percent of the vote, while the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) remained at 21.3 percent. With this victory, Sinn Fein became the first Irish nationalist party to gain control of parliament.
“Today represents a very important moment of change. A defining moment for our policy and our people,” said Michelle O’Neill, President of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland.
O’Neill said there must now be an “honest discussion” around the party’s goal of uniting the region with the Republic of Ireland.
However, this victory will not change the status of the region. Because the referendum required to leave the UK is at the discretion of the British government and will likely not take place for years.
But for Sinn Fein, its symbolic significance is enormous. The victory puts an end to a century of domination by the pro-British parties, backed predominantly by the region’s Protestant population.
Scottish Autonomous Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is campaigning to leave the United Kingdom, was among the first to congratulate Sinn Fein, saying “a truly historic result” in her post on Twitter.
In the region’s mandatory power-sharing, the largest party has the right to nominate a candidate for the government’s prime minister, but disagreements with the DUP mean such an appointment could take months.
Asked by a journalist whether he expected to become the region’s first Irish nationalist prime minister, O’Neill replied, “The people have spoken.”
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has said he will not join the government unless the protocol governing Northern Ireland’s trade with the rest of the UK is fully regulated following the UK’s exit from the European Union.
The DUP was heavily criticized for the way it handled Brexit during the campaign. The removal of the effective trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom was an important electoral promise.
Sinn Fein has long been ostracized by the political arena on both sides of the Irish border due to its links to the IRA during the conflict that culminated in a thirty-year 1998 peace agreement for Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom.
It has since built a successful foundation and become the most popular party in the Republic of Ireland, campaigning on everyday issues such as cost of living and health care.
In the Northern Ireland elections, he followed a similar path to appeal to the central electorate, focusing on economic concerns rather than Irish unity.
The elections revealed demographic trends that had long indicated that pro-British Protestant parties would be overshadowed by predominantly Catholic Irish nationalist parties that chose to unite the north with the Republic of Ireland.