VOTERS in Northern Ireland went to the polls yesterday for the second time in 10 months following the collapse of the power-sharing administration earlier this year.
The coalition executive led by the two largest parties at Stormont – the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein – fell apart after its former First Minister Arlene Foster refused to step aside amid an inquiry over a botched green energy grant scheme.
If returned as the main parties, they will have three weeks to resolve their differences and form a new administration. But the re-imposition of direct rule from Westminster is on the cards if the post-election talks fail to deliver an agreement.
DUP leader Foster voted at Brookeborough Primary School in the heart of her Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency, while 40 miles away Sinn Fein’s northern leader Michelle O’Neill filled out her ballot paper in St Patrick’s Primary School in her home village of Clonoe, Co Tyrone.
The more moderate Ulster Unionists and nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), which have presented themselves as an alternative cross-community partnership, are bidding to wrest control away. UUP leader Mike Nesbitt voted at Gilnahirk Primary School in East Belfast, while SDLP leader Colum Eastwood went to the Model Primary School in Derry.
Eastwood said: “This is a very important election. I think it’s probably the most important election since the Good Friday Agreement.”
The Assembly collapsed after Foster refused to stand aside over her handling of the Renewable Heat Incentive, a scheme she set up in 2012 when she was enterprise minister. The initiative was an attempt by the Northern Ireland Executive to increase the creation of heat from renewable sources, but flaws in the scheme’s subsidy rate left it open to abuse as claimants could earn more cash the more fuel they burned.
The lack of cost controls led to an overspend that could cost taxpayers £490m over the next 20 years.
Former DUP first minister Peter Robinson has warned politicians to step back and avert a rush towards the destruction of devolution.
If the three-week post-election deadline passes, Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire is legally obliged to call yet another election.
But, in those circumstances, the Government may well move to pass emergency legislation to suspend devolution for the first time in 10 years.
While the Assembly election will not change how Theresa May’s Government treats talks to leave the European Union, the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is a key Brexit issue.
Five Assembly seats are up for grabs in 18 constituencies, with the overall number returned falling from 108 to 90. A total of 228 candidates are running.
Former Sinn Fein deputy first minister Martin McGuinness resigned in January over the DUP’s handling of the RHI scheme forcing the dissolution of the institutions, which need nationalists and unionists in government to operate, and Brokenshire called a snap election. The next ballot had been due to take place in May 2021 after a poll in May last year.
Northern Ireland uses the single transferable vote (STV) proportional representation electoral system. The last results are expected on Saturday.
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