Sinn Fein secure majority of seats in N. Ireland's local government
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Results of Northern Ireland's local government elections show a 7.7% rise in total votes to the Sinn Fein Irish nationalist party, securing 144 seats for the group which gives it the majority in both regional and local governments.
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Sinn Fein leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neil, speaks to members of the media in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, 3 May 2022. (AP)
The Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein, secured the majority of seats in Northern Ireland's local government elections for the first time ever.
Final results were announced on Saturday revealing a majority of votes went to the former political wing of the Irish Republic Army (IRA) as it took 30.9% of total votes, marking a 7.7% rise from 2019.
The party also secured 38 extra seats when compared to the results of 2019 which gave them 144 representatives in local governments across Northern Ireland. This means that supporters of the reunification of Northern Ireland and Ireland now hold majorities in the country's regional and local councils after securing 21 out of the 90 legislature seats in May 2022.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) a staunch backer of unity with the UK, stagnated in this year's elections maintaining its position of 121 seats even though it marked a slight increase of 0.8% in total vote percentage since the last elections.
Sinn Fein's share came out of that of the Social Democratic and Labour Party as well as that of the Ulster Unionist Party who lost around one-third of their positions in local governments.023, people across Northern Ireland went to the polls to elect new local councils.
The elections which took place on Thursday, May 18 were delayed for two weeks as they overlapped with the UK monarch's coronation on May 6.
Sinn Fein has been fighting for a referendum to reunify Ireland with Northern Ireland after the country was partitioned in 1921 to create a protestant region in the area which has been drenched in sectarian strife for years.
