The Observer reports:

Northern Ireland has slipped into political crisis after Sinn Féin’s triumph in the assembly election triggered calls for a referendum on a united Ireland and the Democratic Unionist party vowed to block the formation of a new power-sharing executive at Stormont.

Jubilant Sinn Féin supporters celebrated across the region on Saturday when final vote counts confirmed a historic victory that turned the former IRA mouthpiece into the biggest party, with the right to nominate the first minister.

Sinn Féin won 29% of the first preference vote and will be the biggest party in the Stormont assembly, a seismic moment for a state that was designed a century ago to have a permanent unionist majority.

The party once led by Gerry Adams seeks to abolish what it considers an illegitimate entity and shuns the term Northern Ireland, instead referring to “the North”, presenting an existential challenge to the UK. Sinn Féin’s MPs boycott Westminster.

In a coded reference to Irish unification, Michelle O’Neill, the party’s deputy president, and the first minister elect, said: “It’s a defining moment for our politics and for our people. Today ushers in a new era which I believe presents us all with an opportunity to reimagine relationships in this society on the basis of fairness, on the basis of equality, and on the basis of social justice, irrespective of religious or social backgrounds.”

It was time for Ireland north and south to discuss a new, shared island, she said. “Let’s have a healthy debate about what our future looks like.”

Sinn Féin’s leader, Mary Lou McDonald, had a message for unionists: “Don’t be scared. The future is bright for all of us.” [Continue reading…]