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In Northern Ireland, for the first time in history, the party advocating unification with Ireland has won

Author:
Oleksiy Yarmolenko
Date:

For the first time in history, the Sinn Féin nationalist party won local elections in Northern Ireland. It supports unification with Ireland.

This was reported by the BBC.

Since the founding of Northern Ireland in 1921, local elections have usually been won by representatives of parties loyal to Great Britain. Lately, it has been the Democratic Unionist Party.

In the 2022 elections, nationalists win 27 seats in parliament and unionists — 24 seats. The party has consistently called for a referendum in Northern Ireland to unite with Ireland and create a single state throughout the island.

Northern Ireland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. From the very beginning, there was a conflict between Catholic nationalists, who advocated unification with Ireland, and Protestant unionists, who remain pro-British. As a result, two armed conflicts between nationalists and unionists took place in Northern Ireland in the twentieth century. Finally, in 1998, a peace treaty was signed between them, which provided for the separation of powers and the countryʼs membership in Great Britain. Instead, the nationalists were given the opportunity to hold a referendum on joining Ireland if the majority of the countryʼs population, according to opinion polls, would support such a decision.