WThe quarreling parties in Northern Ireland can at least agree on one thing: “The upcoming election is the most important in a whole generation,” calls Michelle O’Neill, deputy leader of the Irish nationalist party Sinn Féin (SF), at the start of the campaign in the Hotel Europa in Belfast . Your main opponent sees it the same way: “The most important election in a generation,” urges Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the conservative Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), to his listeners at one of the many small protests against the Northern Ireland protocol on Brexit.
The parliamentary elections on May 5, next Thursday, are likely to bring a turning point. According to polls, Sinn Féin is the strongest party in parliament, the Stormont, for the first time with 26 percent. Jon Tonge, politics professor and Ireland expert at the University of Liverpool, speaks of a “seismic event”, i.e. an earthquake in Northern Ireland politics. Sinn Féin leader O’Neill, who wants to end the split between Northern Ireland and Ireland, could become the next First Minister.
#Conflict #Northern #Ireland #fateful #choice #Emerald #Isle