Election drama – but now the long stalemate begins

World of Politics with Harry McGee

Sinn Féin’s historic victory in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections was accompanied by the slick choreography the party has perfected when it comes to celebrating its wins.

The party leaders are treated like rockstars when they arrive into count centres. Selfies are not used to take photographs of yourself. They are used as vehicles to allow other photographers to take photographs of you taking a selfie.

You can’t quibble though at the triumph. Over 250,000 people voted for Sinn Féin in the Assembly elections.

That might have been an increase of only one per cent and the party, with 27 seats, may not have increased its number of seats in the 90-seat assembly- but it was the relative position of Sinn Féin to others that matter.

The DUP saw its vote share tumble by 6.7 per cent to 21.3 percent and lost three seats, bringing its total to 25.

More pertinently for Sinn Féin its great nationalist rival, the SDLP, had a lousy election. It lost four seats, and saw its vote share slip by almost three per cent to nine per cent, relegating it to the fifth biggest party in the Assembly.

The other big shift in the election was the surge in Alliance seats. It more than doubled its representation to 17 (from eight) and saw an increase of almost five points in its vote share.

It was a triumph for Naomi Long and her party, and showed that Alliance has really extended its base beyond soft unionism to take in those (including a growing constituency in the nationalist community) who no longer subscribe to identity politics.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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