May 20. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Irish nationalist party Sinn Féin has won more than half of the councilor positions decided in the local elections held last Thursday in Northern Ireland, according to still provisional official results.
The leadership of the party has claimed these good results as support from the population for the restitution of the Northern Irish autonomous institutions, suspended after their withdrawal from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which was obliged to govern in coalition with Sinn Féin . The DUP denounces the agreements signed between London and the EU to resolve the border dispute over Brexit.
So far, after two days of counting, Sinn Féin has confirmed 99 councilor acts, compared to 85 for the DUP, 40 for the Alliance Party, 36 for Ulster Unionists, 21 for the Social Democratic and Labor Party and 18 for others. formations, reports Sky News.
Three of the eleven constituencies have already completed the count, including Lisburn and Castlereagh, Mid Ulster and Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon. In the latter, Sinn Féin was the party with the most votes for the first time. The DUP, on the other hand, maintains its predominance in Lisburn and Castlereagh.
The elections have been carried out following a system of proportional representation and in them 462 positions of councilor are decided. Historically, participation has been slightly higher in areas considered nationalist or republican and lower in those considered unionist.
“We will see what the final result is when the count is over and which is the most important party, but if Sinn Féin is the most voted in the local elections I think that, as we have already said consistently, there are lessons that unionism must learn “, has recognized the leader of the DUP, Jeffrey Donaldson.
“We cannot continue in a situation in which the unionist vote continues to split (…). The result is that seats are given away to Sinn Féin and other parties,” he lamented. For this reason, “unionism must look where it is going and regroup,” he stressed.
