Sinn Féin is on course to become the largest party in local government in Northern Ireland, a new poll has suggested.
The republican party will win 29.8% of first preference votes in this month’s council elections, a University of Liverpool-Institute of Irish Studies opinion poll for the Irish News suggests.
This puts it almost seven points clear of the DUP on 23%, with Alliance on 14.5%, the Ulster Unionist Party on 12.8%, the SDLP on 8.3% and the TUV on 5%. Voters in Northern Ireland will head to the polls on May 18 in the local government elections, the first electoral test since last year’s Stormont Assembly elections.
