Sinn Féin cements place as Northern Ireland’s largest party

Nationalist party Sinn Féin gained a “tsunami” of votes to clinch a better than expected victory in council elections in Northern Ireland, which were widely seen as a verdict on the region’s post-Brexit stalemate.

After the count finished early on Sunday morning, Sinn Féin had secured control of six of the 11 councils, cementing its place as the region’s largest party. It beat projections to take 144 of the 462 council seats, an increase of 39 on the last elections in 2019.