Sinn Féin and the British Government have made a new call to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to restore the Northern Irish Home Rule government after the clear victory of the Republicans in the local elections last Thursdaydescribed as “tsunami” even by its rivals.
Sinn Féin has obtained 144 councilor acts, 39 more than in the last elections, well ahead of the 122 of the DUP, which has stayed with exactly the same representation. Behind is the Alliance Party, which has obtained 67 council seats, 14 more, while the Ulster Unionists have 54 (21 less) and the Social Democratic and Labor Party, 39 (20 less). Other formations have achieved 36 seats, twelve less than in 2019.
Participation was 45.7%, slightly higher than in 2019. By percentage, the figures are also clear: Sinn Féin (30.9%)DUP (23.3%), Alliance (13.3%), UUP (10.9%) and SDLP (8.7%), reports Europa Press.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland of the British Government, Chris Heaton-Harris, has also called on the DUP to resume the autonomous government and reactivate the Stormont Parliament. “I hope that with the new councilors the Assembly and the Executive can return to work”has pointed out, according to the newspaper ‘The Guardian’.
The ‘number two’ of Sinn Féin and spokesperson for the party in Stormont, Michelle O’Neill, has defended that the results are a reflection of the desire to recover the autonomous institutions. “It is time for politics to work for all people, for all communities, and to build a better future for all,” she said.
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The leader of the Alliance, Naomi Long, has not hesitated to describe the result of Sinn Féin as a “tsunami”. However, the DUP maintains its position, so it is an internal victory for its leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, tothreatened on both sides by the moderates of the UUP and by the radicals of Voz Unionista Tradicional.
The Northern Irish autonomous institutions, the result of the Good Friday agreements that put an end to political violence, are suspended after the withdrawal of the DUP, which was obliged to govern in coalition with Sinn Féin. The DUP has adopted this response in protest of the agreements signed between London and the EU to resolve the border dispute over Brexit.