Stunning Result for Sinn Féin - First Nationalist Party to Hold Most Councill Seats in Northern Ireland's Local Government

When the the polls in Northern Ireland's local elections closed on Thursday no one predicted the surge of support for Sinn Féin.  After a two-day count they took 144 seats across the 11 councils, an increase of 39 councillors. They have become the biggest party in Northern Ireland local government. Sinn Féin, which backs Irish unity, swept past the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) and became the first nationalist party to hold the most council seats. Delivering what some have described as  "a political and psychological blow to unionism". Having finished 17 seats behind the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in local elections four years ago, the party is now 22 ahead.

This comes after on its performance in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections last May, when it emerged as the largest party for the first time. DUP’s continueing boycott of the power-sharing executive and assembly at Stormont was a significant factor in the increased support for Sinn Féin. Michelle O'Neill, Vice President of Ireland's Sinn Féin and party leader in the north of Ireland described the result as  "momentous" and said: “Historic change is happening and Sinn Féin is leading that change right across Ireland,” Michelle O’Neill, the party’s Northern Ireland First Minister-in-waiting, said in a statement: "The onus is now on the British and Irish governments to get together and focus their efforts on the immediate restoration of the executive and assembly.

"We expect to see an early meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference. The boycott of the assembly cannot go on, and an executive must be formed."