Northern Ireland Divisive Election A Warning To The Workers' Movement

Socialist Party (Irish sister party of the Socialist Party in England and Wales)

- Daniel Waldron

A snap Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on 2 March. This was in the aftermath of the ‘cash for ash’ scandal which emerged in December, the most recent in a series of debacles that have left Stormont - and particularly the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) - shrouded in a smog of incompetence and corruption.

Ten years of DUP /Sinn Féin-led government has been characterised by neoliberal austerity and lack of progress on LGBT+ and women’s rights. This has deepened cynicism and disillusionment towards the Orange and Green establishment and many workers and young people hoped that this election would deliver meaningful and positive change.

But the DUP and Sinn Féin further consolidated their positions as the dominant parties within their respective communities and the election has served to more deeply entrench sectarian division in society.

There has been significant change, with Unionism losing its overall majority for the first time in the state’s history, but its impact will be of a negative character.

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin framed the election around challenging the DUP’s corruption and ‘arrogance’, despite having comfortably spent ten years in power with them.

They cited the DUP’s dismissive attitude towards the aspirations of the Catholic community over issues such as an Irish Language Act and dealing with state crimes during the Troubles, as well their abuse of the Petition of Concern mechanism to undemocratically block same-sex marriage equality.