Sinn Fein salutes 'new era' as she wins Northern Ireland vote

For the first time, Sinn Féin's Irish nationalist party won most seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Irish nationalist Sinn Fein, who wants reunification with Ireland, hailed a "new era" for Northern Ireland on Saturday for winning the most seats in the Northern Irish Assembly for the first time with a historic victory. With nearly all votes counted in Thursday's UK local election, Sinn Féin secured 27 of the 90 seats in the assembly. The Democratic Unionist Party, which has dominated Northern Ireland's legislature for two decades, won 24 seats. Victory means Sinn Fein qualifies as Prime Minister in Belfast - the first time an Irish nationalist party has become an Irish nationalist party since the founding of Protestant Northern Ireland in 1921.

The center-forward Alliance party, which describes itself as neither nationalist nor unionist, has also seen a massive increase in support and should be the other big winner of the 17-seat vote.

The victory was a significant milestone for Sinn Féin, who has long been associated with the Irish Republican Army. This paramilitary group tried to bomb and shell Northern Ireland from the British government during decades of violence between Republic of Ireland militants and Protestant loyalist paramilitaries and the British Army and Police. "Regardless of religious, political or social background, my commitment is to make politics work."

O'Neill stressed Northern Ireland's divided politicians must meet next week to form the Executive - Northern Ireland's devolved government. If it cannot be included within six months, the government will collapse, resulting in new elections and uncertainty.

There's "space for everyone, everyone," O'Neill said. "There is an urgent need to restore executive power and put money back into people's pockets to start improving health services. People are impatient."

While Sinn Fein's victory signaled a historic turnaround that saw declining support for union parties, Northern Ireland's complex power-sharing politics and the ongoing battle over a Brexit deal make it unclear what will happen next.

Under the mandatory power-sharing system introduced by the 1998 peace accord that ended decades of Catholic-Protestant conflict, the prime minister and deputy prime minister are divided between the largest trade union party and the largest nationalist party. Both positions need to be filled for the government to function, but the Democratic Unity Party has indicated that this may not work for Sinn Féin's first minister.