A bitter election looms in Northern Ireland

AFTER a decade of relative stability, this week Northern Ireland witnessed a familiar scene from the past: a frustrated British minister announcing the dissolution of the Stormont Assembly and calling fresh elections, to be held on March 2nd.The collapse of the devolved government, for the first time since it was restored in 2007, was caused by the resignation a week earlier of the deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, after a row with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), his coalition partner. Under Stormont's rules, power is shared by a republican and a unionist. So when Sinn Fein refused to appoint a replacement for Mr McGuinness, the Assembly was dissolved.Tensions had been simmering for a year. They boiled over when the DUP's leader and first minister, Arlene Foster, became embroiled in a bungled green-energy initiative that will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.The last Assembly election, in May, continued the concentration of power in the two main parties (see chart). The number of seats has since been cut to 90, which may squeeze small parties further. The balance of power is...Continue reading
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