{"id":8639,"date":"2017-03-04T23:41:28","date_gmt":"2017-03-04T23:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/assembly-election-sinn-fein-hails-watershed-result\/"},"modified":"2017-03-04T23:41:28","modified_gmt":"2017-03-04T23:41:28","slug":"assembly-election-sinn-fein-hails-watershed-result","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/assembly-election-sinn-fein-hails-watershed-result\/","title":{"rendered":"Assembly election: Sinn F\u00e9in hails &#8216;watershed&#8217; result"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><figcaption>Media captionSinn F\u00e9in says election is &quot;watershed&quot; moment which ended Stormont&#039;s unionist majority<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">Sinn F\u00e9in has hailed the assembly election as a &quot;watershed&quot; moment after the party came within one seat of drawing level with the DUP.<\/p>\n<p>Only 1,168 first preference votes separated the two parties and, for the first time, unionists do not have an overall majority at Stormont.<\/p>\n<p>Sinn F\u00e9in President Gerry Adams said: &quot;The notion of a perpetual unionist majority has been demolished.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Its northern leader Michelle O&#039;Neill is to lead talks to restore power-sharing.<\/p>\n<p>She said: &quot;The task is not easy, but it is achievable if people come at it with the right attitude.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Amid the fallout, Mike Nesbitt said he would resign as Ulster Unionist leader.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Analysis: A brutal result for unionism<\/li>\n<li>Q&amp;A: NI Assembly Election 2017<\/li>\n<li>New-look politics or more of the same?<\/li>\n<li>In quotes: Leaders react<\/li>\n<li>As it happened - Election vote fallout <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The election was called after the collapse of a coalition led by Arlene Foster&#039;s DUP and Sinn F\u00e9in&#039;s Martin McGuinness.<\/p>\n<p>Sinn F\u00e9in and the DUP now have three weeks to establish a government: Under Northern Ireland&#039;s power-sharing agreement, the government must be run by Irish nationalists and unionists together. <\/p>\n<p>If a government cannot be formed within that time then, under law, another election will be called.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Getty Images<figcaption>Image caption                                      DUP leader Arlene Foster said she was pleased the DUP remained the largest party, despite its seat losses                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mrs Foster said she was pleased the DUP won the most votes, adding: &quot;I do hope devolution will get back up and running as quickly as possible.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The DUP&#039;s Jeffrey Donaldson said it would be unfair to focus on &quot;just one individual&quot; when asked about the party&#039;s loss of seats and Mrs Foster&#039;s future as its leader.<\/p>\n<p>The party would have to &quot;listen to the concerns expressed during the election&quot;, but was focused on forming a government, he added.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, if no power-sharing government is formed, devolved power could return to the UK parliament at Westminster for the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary of State James Brokenshire said the election had demonstrated the desire by the overwhelming majority of voters for inclusive, devolved government.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Everyone now has a shared responsibility to engage intensively in the short period of time that is available to us, to ensure that a strong and stable administration is established,&quot; he said.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Media captionBBC News NI looks at the next steps for the Stormont Assembly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>David Trimble, a former Ulster Unionist Party leader who also served as first minister of Northern Ireland, suggested the parties would need more time to reach an agreement.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;If there isn&#039;t an administration put in place then the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is on a legal obligation to dissolve the assembly and have another general election, which I doubt will get us anywhere.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><strong>High-profile casualties<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A total of 64.8% of the electorate voted in the second Assembly election in 10 months - the highest turnout since the vote which followed the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and up 10 points on last May&#039;s vote. <\/p>\n<p>The result means the DUP no longer has enough MLAs - 30 - to deploy Stormont&#039;s controversial petition of concern without the support of others.<\/p>\n<p>The petition can be used as an effective veto and had been used by the DUP to block motions including a move to lift the ban on same-sex marriage. <\/p>\n<p>The election saw Mrs Foster, Mrs O&#039;Neill, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood among those elected.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Nesbitt won his seat at the Strangford count but shortly afterwards, he announced that he was to stand down as Ulster Unionist leader following his party&#039;s poor performance.<\/p>\n<p>Indicating that he will remain in position until his successor is found, he said his real regret was that Northern Ireland&#039;s society appeared to have emerged from the election more polarised.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Some day Northern Ireland will vote as a normal democracy,&quot; he said. &quot;We will vote in a post-sectarian election, but it&#039;s now clear it will not happen during the duration of my political career.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the return of 12 MLAs to a reduced Assembly was a statement of intent as the party had arrested a period of decline. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;This is the first time since 1998 that we have recorded gains. The SDLP is on the move,&quot; he added.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Media captionNelson McCausland one of the poll&#039;s several high-profile casualties<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He also paid tribute to the &quot;bravery and the humility&quot; shown by Mr Nesbitt during the campaign. <\/p>\n<p>While Mr Nesbitt held his Assembly seat, other high-profile MLAs were not so lucky.<\/p>\n<p>The SDLP&#039;s Alex Attwood, the UUP&#039;s Danny Kennedy, and the DUP&#039;s Nelson McCausland and Lord Morrow were former executive ministers who failed to secure a return to a Stormont legislature that is being cut from 108 to 90 members.<\/p>\n<p>Other casualties included the UUP&#039;s Jo-Anne Dobson, former DUP minister Jonathan Bell, who stood as an independent, and People Before Profit&#039;s Eamon McCann, who was elected as an MLA last May but lost his seat in Foyle.<\/p>\n<p>Mr McGuinness resigned over Mrs Foster&#039;s refusal to step aside as first minister pending an inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, which could cost the Northern Ireland tax payer \u00a3490m.<\/p>\n<p>A total of 1,254,709 people were eligible to vote for 228 candidates competing for 90 seats in 18 constituencies. <\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Pacemaker<figcaption>Image caption                                      Martin McGuinness resigned over Mrs Foster&#039;s refusal to step aside as first minister pending an inquiry into a botched energy scheme                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The BBC News NI website will carry all the latest on the election throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>There are also special election programmes running on BBC Radio Ulster from 09:00 GMT .<\/p>\n<p><a rel='nofollow' href=http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/election-northern-ireland-2017-39159423 target=\"_blank\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Media captionSinn F\u00e9in says election is &quot;watershed&quot; moment which ended Stormont&#039;s unionist majority Sinn F\u00e9in has hailed the assembly election as a &quot;watershed&quot; moment after the party came within one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}