Northern Ireland

For the first time ever, Sinn Féin has become the largest party in the local elections in Northern Ireland. It is already the largest party in Stormont, BBC has reported after two days of counting. The predominantly Catholic and nationalist party has won a total of 144 city council seats, 39 more than in the last elections in 2019. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) emerged from the election unchanged with 122 council seats. Alliance gets 67 seats, 14 more than last. Both the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP declined significantly, ending up with 54 and 39 council seats respectively. Smaller and independent parties together got 36 seats. Northern Ireland has been without a government since last May’s general election, due to the DUP refusing to join the power-sharing agreement because of the Northern Ireland Protocol in the Brexit Agreement with Britain. / ritzau/