EXPLAINED
The story so far: Northern Ireland came into existence in 1921 when Ireland was partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 passed by the British parliament. Sectarian tensions between the Protestants and Catholics led to a 30-year period of militant strife, called The Troubles, which began in the late 1960s and continued until the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Sinn Féin, since 1921, never won a decisive vote. This changed on May 7, 2022 as it was declared that Sinn Féin had won 27 seats out of 90 or 29% of the preference vote, while its closest unionist competitor, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), dropped its seat tally to 25. The right-wing DUP haemorrhaged voters that were mostly picked up by its hardline right-wing competitor, the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV). These important shifts have raised concerns in Northern Ireland about the future of its union with the United Kingdom. How did Northern Ireland get to this point in history?
