Subject to the fortunes of the DUP, Sinn Féin could end up by default with the largest number of MPs,
Subject to the fortunes of the DUP, Sinn Féin could end up by default with the largest number of MPs,DUP leader Gavin Robinson speaking during the launch the party's manifesto at Danny Blanchflower Stadium in east Belfast. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA Wirer offers an intriguing subplot both to electoral politics in the UK and on the island of Ireland in this year of elections.
Sinn Féin, the largest party on the island, seems well placed to hold its seven Westminster seats, although the perennial marginal of Fermanagh and South Tyrone may have been imperilled by the party’s decision to run long-standing MP Michelle Gildernew unsuccessfully in June’s European Parliament elections. With more councillors and MLAs than its rivals already, Sinn Féin could also now end up by default with the largest number of MPs, subject to the fortunes of the DUP.
For the DUP, which goes into the election with eight seats, the challenge will be to minimise the damage wrought by the shock departure of Jeffrey Donaldson as party leader following his arrest and charging over alleged historical sexual offences. Prior to those events, Donaldson had successfully steered his divided party back into the Northern Ireland Executive on the basis of concessions he had supposedly won on the provisions of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
With the SDLP well positioned to hold on to its two seats, attention will therefore be concentrated on whether or not the DUP can maintain its current tally and with it the symbolic status of being Northern Ireland’s largest parliamentary party. If it can do that, or at least minimise its losses, that could go some way towards bedding in the North’s institutions, which, despite a heartening return to business in recent months, still remain fragile.
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