Final Northern Ireland Election Results - DUP, Sinn Fein big winners.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/3245156.stm

DUP - 30 seats
UUP - 27 seats
Sinn Fein - 24 Seats
SDLP - 18 seats
Alliance - 6 seats
Others - 3 seats

[arewethereyet]

1. Northern Irish people the big losers

Paisley will stifle progress worse than Arafat.

IRA may re-arm just long enough to cap that guy.

[T_i_B]

8. "IRA may re-arm just long enough to cap that guy"

On the contrary, I think that Paisley is the biggest recruiting tool the nationalists have got! Ditto for the unionists feelings towards Gerry Adams.

This result is a really bad one and yes, it will stifle progress. This is particularly sad when you consider that the Good Friday agreement was, and remains Blair's finest achevement.

[Bombtrack]

2. can you fill me in about Irish/northern Ireland politics

I know what Sinn Fein is but that's about it. I know that there was a treaty in the late 90's that gave Northern Ireland a special government or committee or something that gave it more independance from the UK I believe.

But other than that I'm clueless. What are the other parties all about and who's in charge?

[arewethereyet]

3. I'll try and give you the short form...

Firstly, who is who:
DUP - the most hard line of the significant Unionist parties
UUP - the less hard line of the significant Unionist parties
Sinn Fein - the more hard line of the Republican (not GOP) parties
SDLP - the less hard line of the Republican parties
Alliance - generally side with Republicans
Others - fringe elements of various sorts

Unionists wish for Northern Ireland to remain a state of the United Kingdom.Republicans wish for Northern Ireland to re-integrate back into the Republic of Ireland. If you want more on that whole story better take that off line.

The Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998 between the UUP (who were the majority Unionist party at the time) and Sinn Fein and the UK is a somewhat complicated agreement that would allow shared (between these two parties as the dominant ones) self government of Northern Ireland and established a roadmap for this transition away from British rule. It required a cease fire firstly which has largely been accomplished and was primarily directed at Sinn Fein.

Well things went along relatively well until the IRA's disarmament started occuring. The unionists were not happy with the manner that this was accomplished. It was done in secret but was observed by an independant council headed by a Canadian De Chastain (sorry for screwing up his name). It ultimately broke down when the UUP head Trimble who was feeling heat from the hard liners pretty much killed the government. THey have been back under Brit rule for a year or so.

The goal was not independance per say although the Republicans saw it as the first step in realizing their goal, it was to have self rule with the removal of Brit presense (which prior to the agreement was intense and a real problem).

Obviously there is a great deal more to the story. I believe that www.ireland.com has a section called "the Troubles" which explains it all. "The Troubles" is the typically Irish name for this whole sordid mess.

I'm for the republican side but I've tried to avoid being overly biased. Probably not too successfully.

[durutti]

7. Nationalists vs. Unionists

It's also worth noting:

Unionists want to remain part of the UK but are non-violent. Loyalists want to remain part of the UK and are violent. Nationalists want independence and are non-violent. Republicans want independence and are violent.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Strange you know what Sinn Fein is

without knowing who their opponents are.

DUP: Unionist party, led by a fundamentalist Protestant preacher, Ian Paisley, which opposes the 'treaty' (Good Friday Agreement) which set up limited devolution from Britain (roughly, they got the power an American state has), reformed the police service to try to get rid of Protestant bias, and set up a few joint commissions with the Republic. Refuses to talk to Sinn Fein at all, until the IRA has completely disarmed and stopped any kind of violent activity. This is why the outlook now looks poor.

UUP: more moderate Unionist party, was leader of the coalition of the NI devolved government. Managed to work with Sinn Fein for a bit, but eventually insisted that the IRA had to disarm more than it had, so the government and assembly were suspended. Will possibly split, since some members are against the Agreement.

SDLP: moderate (never supported violence) Nationalist (ie wants to join the Republic) party, worked with the UUP leadership in the government.

Sinn Fein: Republican, supported IRA, did work in the government for a bit.

Alliance: 'neutral' (no religious affiliation, and I think would talk to any other party, if it thought it would calm things down).

Any party with a 'U' in its abbreviation is probably Unionist; some of the small ones are linked to the Loyalist terrorists, in the same way Sinn Fein is linked to the IRA.

[veggiemama]

10. Another good website for both the Republic and the North . . .

http://www.iol.ie/~dluby/politics.htm

[Scott Lee]

5. Sinn Feinn! Gu nu slan An Phoblacht!!!

;)

[TexasMexican]

6. dont know much...

about Northern Ireland politics, but I think think that North Ireland should reunite with the rest of Ireland.

[veggiemama]

9. The feeling down here in the Republic is mixed, but with a

just amount of glee that Sinn Fein won some big, important seats! By and large, here in Eire, the feeling today is business as usual, no surprises. But then, Gerry Adams is THE most popular political figure in the Republic--and he's not even technically ours!

Big win for Sinn Fein here in County Wexford is good craic!