Sinn Fein popular in polls

Belfast: Sinn Fein looks set to become the first Irish nationalist party to win the most seats in Northern Ireland at an election starting overnight that will test the stability of the British region’s powersharing governance and talks on postBrexit trading rules.

Victory for a party wanting Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom would mark a historic shift 24 years after the Good Friday peace accord that ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed between those seeking unity with neighbouring Ireland and those wanting to remain part of the UK.

Support for Sinn Fein stood at an average of 25% across the final campaign polls, giving the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army a sixpoint over its nearest rival, the proBritish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), whose popularity has shrivelled over the past 18 months. — Reuters