Now Sinn Fein has won a historic victory in the Northern Ireland
Assembly election after became the largest party.
In Stormont for the very first time.
But what could it mean for the political landscape in Northern Ireland?
Joining us now is political correspondent for the Irish Examiner, who's
just had to hop off Good morning, Britain to come over here.
You're all over the place,
Aoife Moore! People are gonna be even sick of me
Keeping people entertained, keeping people informed, now come here.
We were talking about this on Thursday as to what was going to happen.
Has a played out as we thought that it was going to- Sinn Féin you
said, like we all knew Sinn Féin was gonna be the largest party.
Yeah, I think the polling very much showed that it was accurate.
You know Sinn
Féin are now, we're the largest party in Stormont with 27 seats.
The DUP had a bad day out, but it wasn't as bad as many people had predicted.
So the last poll we saw, we actually saw Alliance & the DUP neck and neck.
That's not the way it fell out.
So the DUP are still the second largest party with Alliance.
in third, although the historic symbolism of Sinn Fein being
the biggest party is going to be the headline of the day, I think
the biggest shift we've seen is the Alliance Party.
It is very, very clear that people who would have traditionally made
it we being unionist voters have moved away from that viewpoint.
Annoyed they have voted for Alliance Alliance had a great delight.
They had, ah, lot of like the Lord mayor.
Belfast.
Kate Michael.
whose actually 35 weeks pregnant, was elected.
They had a great day.
A lot of really popular
Counsellors were elected, but it came at a cost.
The SDLP vote completely collapsed, the Green Party vote.
They lost their only two MLAs.
Their Green Party leader Claire Bailey also lost their seat.
Big shock.
The SDLP, the Transport minister Nichola Mallon's.
She lost her seat, so it has come with a cost at the other parties.
But I think for the most part the polls were correct in that Sinn
Féin are now the largest party.
So for people who aren't watching Alliance Party are kind of the middle.
They're not green, they're not
orange = they're in that middle party.
So it's a kind of a younger trend probably, as well, of people who don't
want to get involved in the religious side of things who just wants.
The Alliance are a nonsectarian, non-aligned, neither unionised or nationalist party
Now, they used to be seen as a kind of unionised with a small
'u', but they're very much moved away from that now.
They usually hold the Justice Ministry because
they're seen as the adults in the room.
They could deal with justice.
Their leader Naomi
Long has been in politics like I remember from as long as I can remember.
She is formidable.
She really popular leader speaks a lot of sense.
People really like her.
So that's trance transferred into a lot of votes for them.
But you're right.
It does appear it's not so much you can say.
People moved away from green and orange because
Sinn Féin has consolidated their vote.
But people have moved away from the traditional unionist parties on.
That's what we've seen There's also an immigrant population
in Northern Ireland who wouldn't come.
I think people forget that who wouldn't come from a Catholic or Protestant a unionist
or national background you know they don't have any of the hanging.
Yeah, we call.
Call them like the 'New Northern Irish'.
But basically, that's what we're seeing.
And we are just seeing, you know, ah, younger population.
I would also say that one of the best things I think about this
Election's this is the youngest assembly we've ever elected.
Yeah, it's also the most woman we've ever elected, s O.
I just think Northern Ireland is in a bit of a chef that the minute it's becoming more
progressive and we're seeing that with Alliance, are they going to a storm
Like it is going to meet? What would be meant to happen?
So what's supposed to happen is Brandon Lewis,
the Secretary of State is coming to the north today to meet with all the parties.
They would have a big meeting, and then by Friday, we have to nominate
a speaker of the Assembly. Once you nominate the speaker.
You're supposed to nominate a First Minister, a Deputy
First Minister and Stormont returns.
But we know the DUP said that they're not going to come back
to Stormont until the issues with the protocol are sorted.
It doesn't appear from Dublin, Brussels or London that the protocol issues.
You're gonna be sorted in, the tanks in.
We have until September.
So there was new legislation brought on that says Brandon Lewis
could give us till September six months from the election.
And he will call another election as a northerner I can tell ye,
if you give us an amount of time, we will use all that time off.
So I think we could still be sitting here at the end of August with them
because the DUP they said either the secretary, Brandon Lewis.
Either he wants an executive or he wants a protocol, but he can't have both on it.
Doesn't look like there's gonna be any shift.
I mean, the protocols got nothing to do with Northern Ireland.
It's but to do with the EU on the UK and I think is well, it definitely
shows that the structures of storming need to be looked at because
it is not democratic for one party who are not the majority party
to hold the rest of the executives take their wages.
Well, exactly.
Collapse the government.
Could they still take their wages?
Well, yes, yes.
So they're not going to work taken away will be paid.
This is the cost of living
crisis was something that was talked about on the doorsteps.
In there is also three million points sitting in a bank account that could be spent
in Northern Ireland but cannot be spent until the executive comes back.
Connor Murphy, the finance Minister, has basically begged everyone.
Please come back to the table.
We have this three million points.
We could alleviate some of the costs of in crisis.
But without the executive, we can't do it.
So people are feeling in their pockets.
And to be honest, do you can, you know, beat their chests over this?
I don't think they can weather this politically.
The last storm and shot down was so deeply unpopular for Sinn Fein and the DUP.
I don't like they were, whether another close it since February.
So they stepped down in February.
They have until September Well, and then you say it would be another election.
So, like what we're seeing right now?
Yeah, but I would venture.
This is just me to guess, and But I would venture if there's another
election and it gets the September and there's been no executive.
The people who will pay the most for that is the DUP because they collapse Stormont
See this is the thing there.
There will be some form of retribution because it didn't collapse in
the way that we thought that was going to collapse for the
DUP for an awful lot of people to do a turn out, I'm sure
that some people who would normally vote DUP
maybe just didn't turn up on the day.
But these are these are issues that one party does, as
you mentioned, seems to be holding because the
UUP are happy to work within the they've said we will go back.
And you know, it was so clear when you want to.
The leaders debate every every single other leader,
including Doug Beattie from the UUP.
Said when we are on the doors.
When we were canvassing people, we're not talking about the protocol.
They were talking about the health care system.
The health care system in the North is on its knees.
People are taking credit union loans to get very, very typical procedures in private
hospitals because they've been on a waiting list for five or six years.
The cost of living crisis, education, jobs.
That's the things people care.
What?
The protocol was not mentioned in any great shakes.
The DUP tried to make this election about protocol.
And that is not what was coming up on the doors on Sinn Fein.
Didn't particularly may their side of the story about
a united Ireland from to the Examiner today.
I mean, it's not even on the radar.
We saw the overall tone yesterday, so that wasn't part of their spin.
Definitely not.
So they what
Sinn Féin
tend to do is
once they get a line, workers and families, they trod it out all the time
so Michelle needs big thing was, you know, the first minister, for all
that was and that was the message they were pushing all the time.
They were asked about it, actually, in the leader's debates on the BBC,
and Michelle me said, You know, we're not calling for this tomorrow very
much played down the border pool thing, whereas the DP, all their pants,
what's all their legislature talked up the border pool.
If you vote for Sinn Féin, if you don't don't vote for the DUP,
there's going to be a Border poll.
There's not going to be a Border poll anytime soon.
But what Sinn Féin are saying is we need to plan for this, you know,
it's it's coming down the line, Will you like it or not?
And there needs to be some sort of plan and done.
But I don't think it's something that we're going to see in the next day because it's
also a Citizen's Assembly down here like it's not something that -
It's a long way away.
But I think it would be silly not to plan for it.
Yeah, well, I think that this is going to be very interesting
over the week as to how this is going to play out.