Protestant party sees gains in Northern Ireland election

DUBLIN – Northern Ireland’s major British Protestant party, the Democratic Unionists, appeared on course to retain its leading role in power-sharing Friday as Catholic backing for Irish nationalist parties declined for the first time in decades.

With all first-preference votes declared in Northern Ireland’s complex system of proportional representation, the Democratic Unionists won 29.2 per cent support, down 0.8 points from the last Northern Ireland Assembly election in 2011.

The major Catholic-backed party, Sinn Fein, retained its dominant position in Irish nationalist districts but saw its vote fall by 2.9 points to 24 per cent, an unexpected slide following two decades of relentless gains aided by the 1990s Irish Republican Army cease-fires.

Sinn Fein had hoped to overtake the Democratic Unionists and gain the top post in Northern Ireland’s 9-year-old unity government. Instead it faces a challenge to retain all of its 29 seats in the 108-member assembly.

Democratic Unionist chief Arlene Foster declared she was certain of remaining leader of Northern Ireland’s unity government following Thursday’s election, with her party likely to increase its seats from the current 38. All winners won’t be declared until Saturday because ballots must be counted in several rounds to fill six-seat districts in order of popularity.

First Minister Foster beamed as she topped the vote in her native county of Fermanagh. Foster, 45, became Northern Ireland’s first female leader in January after succeeding Peter Robinson as Democratic Unionist leader.

Her Sinn Fein rival atop the government, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, faced a longer road to victory in his home city of Londonderry. McGuinness, a former IRA commander, finished the first round of voting barely ahead of a moderate nationalist challenger.

Sinn Fein suffered a shock in its Catholic west Belfast power base, where a young socialist candidate from the upstart People Before Profit party topped the poll.