Mary Lou hails ‘a moment of equality’ in poll
THE prospect of the first nationalist first minister at Stormont is an ‘almost emotional moment’, according to Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald.
The party leader was speaking after a historic election result saw Sinn Féin become the first nationalist or republican party to top the poll at Stormont.
The party finished with 27 seats, ahead of the DUP, which dropped from 28 to 25 seats. The centre-ground Alliance Party saw a surge in its vote to finish as the third biggest party at Stormont, with 17 seats.
The new party order means that Sinn Féin is entitled to nominate the next first minister. However, under Assembly rules the DUP, as the next largest party, must nominate a deputy first minister for the joint office, for Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill to become first minister.
‘The Northern state was established to guarantee a perpetual in-built unionist majority to ensure that nobody like Michelle O’Neill would ever be first minister,’ Ms McDonald told RTÉ yesterday. ‘And at the weekend, that glass ceiling has been smashed to smithereens.
‘I would describe it as almost an emotional response from nationalists living in the north, particularly older citizens, because they understand, having lived through the worst of days, the significance of that development.
‘But I think for everybody, right across the North, right across Ireland, it is to be celebrated as a moment of equality.’
Before the election, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson did not confirm if he would nominate a deputy first minister in the event of a first minister from Sinn Féin.