SINN FEIN EYES HISTORIC WIN IN N. IRELAND VOTE

Ever since Northern Ireland was founded as a Protestant-majority state a century ago, its governments have been led by unionist politicians who defined themselves as British.

But if opinion polls are right, an election today will see Sinn Fein, an Irish nationalist party that seeks union with Ireland, become the largest group in the 90-seat Northern Ireland Assembly. That would give Sinn Fein the post of first minister for the first time.

It would be a milestone for a party long linked to the Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary group that used bombs and bullets to try to take Northern Ireland out of U.K. rule during decades of violence — in which the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary, as well as Protestant Loyalist paramilitaries, were also strongly involved.

It would also bring Sinn Fein’s ultimate goal of a united Ireland a step closer.

But it’s not what the party — or voters — want to talk about in a campaign that has been dominated by more immediate worries: long waiting lists for medical care and the soaring cost of food and fuel.

In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein has downplayed talk of a united Ireland in its campaign to focus on bread-and-butter issues.

Even so, Katy Hayward, professor of political sociology at Queen’s University Belfast, said Sinn Fein taking the top spot would be a “very significant” moment.

“In terms of what the election outcome will mean, it’s very much about how the other parties respond to this scenario,” Hayward said.

Full results of the election, which uses a system of proportional representation, are not expected until the weekend at the earliest.