Northern Ireland: Sinn Fein leads in regional elections

Catholic Sinn Fன்in faces historic victory in Northern Ireland regional election According to first predictions, she is clearly ahead. Overall, the UK local elections were a defeat for Prime Minister Johnson.

The regional elections in Northern Ireland mark a historic turning point. According to the BBC, after the first round of voting, the Catholic-Republican Sinn Fin is ahead of the Protestant-Unionist TUP (Democratic Unionist Party) with 21.3 percent of the vote.

Citing Sinn Fin sources, the Irish broadcaster RTÉ said he hoped the party would win more seats in the regional parliament. Party leader Michelle O’Neill has called for a debate on relations with the Republic of Ireland. “We will all work on a common plan,” he told the dpa news agency.

Establishing a difficult government

Sinn Fin was once considered the political wing of the IRA, a militant organization that fought at gunpoint to unite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. If the expectations are confirmed, the party will be given the right to appoint the head of government in the future United Government.

So far, this position has always been occupied by parties advocating maintaining union with Great Britain. Sinn Fein, on the other hand, is committed to a united Ireland, but has not made this a priority in the election campaign.

However, the formation of a government due to the opposition of the DUP will fail and it will have to appoint an equal representative. According to the 1998 peace treaty known as the Good Friday Pact, the strongest parties of the two religious sects must form a united government.

The Tories lost 350 council seats

A total of thousands of seats in local and district councils in large parts of England and in Wales and Scotland were voted on Thursday, and a new regional parliament was elected in Northern Ireland. The results of the first part of the referendum have already been obtained. The number of individual constituencies may continue on Saturday.

In other parts of the country the losses are staggering for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the ruling Conservative Party. The Tories lost 350 council seats in England, Scotland and Wales and 10 local councils to Labor or the Liberal Democrats. This emerges from the first results of the published referendum.

Liberals and Greens increased

Labor has won long-standing Conservative strongholds in central London, including Westminster and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s “favorite district” Wandsworth, which have been occupied by the Tories since 1964. Labor won in the port city of Southampton in the south of England and in the newly formed Cumberland constituency in northwest England.

Outside the capital, however, the gains of Labor opposition are minimal. Smaller parties, such as the Liberal Democrats and Greens, on the other hand, grew significantly.

Johnson: “Mixed End”

Regional and local elections in Great Britain are really about firm local politics. However, experts have previously suggested that Prime Minister Johnson’s criticism of the “partygate” scandal and rising inflation could play a role. The Prime Minister spoke of “mixed” decisions, for which he is responsible. “We had a hard night in some parts of the country. In other parts the Conservatives are making progress.”

Labor leader Khair Stormer, on the other hand, spoke of “a major turning point for us” and said his campaign manager, Shabana Mahmoud, would lay a solid foundation for returning to government after four consecutive defeats in the 2010 general election.