High turnout as North goes to the polls

EARLY winners in the North’s Assembly elections are expected to be announced today, with Sinn Féin possibly set to take the first minister post for the first time.

Chief electoral officer, Virginia McVey, said there appeared to be a high turnout for yesterday’s voting.

The DUP and Sinn Féin are vying for the top spot in the election, which comes with the entitlement to nominate the next First Minister. A unionist party has always been the biggest in the Assembly, and previously the Stormont Parliament, since the formation of the jurisdiction in 1921.

Counting will start at three centres in Belfast, Jordanstown and Magherafelt this morning with the first results expected to be called today.

The DUP won 28 seats at the last Assembly elections in 2017, just ahead of Sinn Féin which returned 27 MLAs.

While the office of the First and Deputy First Minister is an equal one with joint power, the allocation of the titles is regarded as symbolically important.

The Northern Ireland Protocol has cast a long shadow over the election campaign following the resignation of first minister, Paul Givan, in February in an effort to force the British government to act over the post-Brexit trading arrangements. This action left the Executive unable to fully function. While ministers remained in post, they were restricted in the actions they could take.

Unionists object to the additional checks on goods arriving in the North from Britain as a border in the Irish Sea.

Northern secretary Brandon Lewis said he has told the parties of the need for them to work together to restore a fully functioning devolved government after the election.

‘I have conveyed to the parties the need for them to work together to restore fully functioning devolved institutions as soon as they can, when the count is complete.’

Five Assembly seats are up for grabs in 18 constituencies, with the overall number of MLAs returned at 90.