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SINN FÉIN HAS made electoral history in the North and are now the region’s biggest party at Westminster, while Alliance also made history in taking the seat formerly held by ex-DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson.
It means Sinn Féin has now completed the hattrick in becoming the largest party at Westminster, Stormont, and local government.
Sinn Féin achieved this feat by standing still and emerging from the election with the seven seats they entered with.
It was a bruising night for the DUP, with the Paisley dynasty in North Antrim coming to an end.
In North Antrim, a seat which has been held by an Ian Paisley since 1970, Ian Paisley Jr lost to the Reform-backed TUV leader Jim Allister by 450 votes.
Speaking after his election, Allister said the DUP had tried to “hoodwink” unionists and that unionists “would not be taken for fools”.
The DUP is the only party in the North to make net-losses and also lost its seat in Lagan Valley, which had been held by former leader Jeffrey Donaldson.
The DUP however held on to its seat in Belfast East, which prevented a potential leadership headache for the party.
In Belfast East, DUP leader Gavin Robinson went head-to-head with Alliance leader Naomi Long.
It was the fourth time the two went to an electoral battle, with Robinson coming out on top once more.
Speaking to The Journal prior to the election Jon Tonge, a British and Irish politics professor at the University of Liverpool, said Belfast East was the seat the DUP needed to retain for the sake of its leader, as the party leader needs to be an MP or Stormont MLA.
The DUP’s Gregory Campbell also came close to a shock defeat in East Derry.
He’s held that seat since 2001 and had a majority of close to 9,000 last time out – Sinn Féin cut that to just 179.
A full recount was needed to get Campbell over the line, which handed the DUP its fifth seat of the night – down from the eight it held after the 2019 election.
Campbell blamed a split unionist vote, alongside an increase in the Sinn Féin vote, for the close run contest.
For Sinn Féin, holding on to what they had was enough to come out on top, though there was a landslide in the notoriously tight Fermanagh-South Tyrone.
Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew won it in 2019 by just 57 votes, and came out on top by just a single vote in 2010 after three recounts.
Gildernew didn’t run this time round though – she instead unsuccessfully contested the European Elections in the Republic’s Midlands-North West constituency last month.
Pat Cullen, the former general secretary and chief executive of the UK’s Royal College of Nursing, ran for the party in her place and won by over 4,600 votes.
And while there was some fear for the seat held by Sinn Féin’s Chris Hazzard in South Down, he ended up winning comfortably by over 9,500 votes.
For Alliance, it was a real bitter-sweet night.
The party, which designates as ‘other’ rather than ‘nationalist’ or ‘unionist’, took one seat in this election – the same as last time out in 2019.
The 2019 local elections were seen as a major breakthrough for Alliance, with the party gaining 21 additional councillors.
The momentum of the 2019 local council elections followed into the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly elections in 2022.
But Alliance has never defended a Westminster seat and this trend continued, with Stephen Farry losing his seat in North Down to independent unionist candidate Alex Easton.
In the weeks before the election, Long said the party could be competitive in up to five seats.
However, real history was made in Lagan Valley with Alliance’s Sorcha Eastwood.
Donaldson didn’t stand as a candidate but his appearance in Newry Courthouse the day before voters went to the polls may have been playing in people’s minds.
For the first time, the seat will be held by a non-unionist and by a woman.
It was also a decent night for the Ulster Unionist Party, with the party regaining Westminster representation after electoral wipeout last time out.
Former health minister Robin Swann topped the poll in South Antrim and had a majority of over 7,500 votes on the DUP’s Paul Girvan.
However, Diana Armstrong fared badly in the notoriously tight Fermanagh-South Tyrone, losing out to Sinn Féin’s Pat Cullen by over 4,500 votes.
British and Irish politics professor Jon Tonge told The Journal prior to the election that the UUP would “be happy with one seat and just want Westminster representation back”.
He noted that while the “bigger scalp would be that of Sinn Féin in Fermanagh-South Tyrone, just getting back on those Westminster green benches would be massive for the UUP”.
While UUP leader Doug Beattie said he was happy to “get back onto the green benches in Westminster”, he told the BBC “there are other places where I wish we had done better”.
The SDLP maintained their seats, but the majority of leader Colum Eastwood took a massive blow in Foyle.
In 2019, Eastwood had a majority of over 17,000 votes, but that was slashed to just over 4,000.
Meanwhile, Claire Hanna won comfortably in Belfast South, with a majority of around 13,500 votes.
Elsewhere, the TUV grabbed a major win in North Antrim, with leader Jim Allister taking the seat of the DUP’s Ian Paisley Jr.
Allister told the BBC that many people “have egg on their face” after his close win.
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A pity he doesn’t sort out the chaotic mess that’s CUH in his own backyard, instead of traveling to northern Ireland
@K O: As Minister of Foreign Affairs travel such as this is a requirement of the job. There may be things to whine about in relation to Micheal Martin but complaining that he is doing his job is a new one.
Cant make it up, these lads continually slate sinn fein.
Yet they are happy to sit with them concerning the north. You can’t have stormont restoration
Without them. Bet he doesnt shout down michelle when others are watching. It’s all hand shakes and smiles.
Yet people believe his rhetoric.
@Colette Byrne: It is valid to differ with SF regarding its iffy economic policies while working alongside it towards a peaceful united Ireland.
@Colette Byrne: SF are Nationalists much like UKIP and so on. I go with Einstein’s opinion on Nationalists.
Hope they don’t use the bike shed contractors for this 1….
@Padraig Devaney: what about the electrion voting machine’s?
Between purchase and storage cost the taxpayer €54 million,then they were sold for NINE EUROS PER UNIT .
He an international high flyer, opinions on everything and no solution.
FF has made persistent effort and input into stable relationships with all who live on the island of Ireland.
@thomas molloy: FF the party of great relationships for sure, literally jumped into bed with bankers and developers and took this country to the brink in 2006 and then denied we ever bailed out said banks?
@thomas molloy: Let’s hope that we will have intelligent comment and discussion on the matter at hand rather than immature electioneering bl bl bla
@thomas molloy: you’re joking Right ?
@jak: The minute you mention your rear end Martin you are losing the argument.
@jak: It’s what you are talking through.
@Tom Newell:
Shin Fein voted on that night with the goverkment to Bale out the Bankers
Only Labour vote no to the Bale out.
“With the return of the institutions in Northern Ireland, and a renewed commitment to partnership from the British government, this is hugely important occasion to reflect on how far we have come and to drive forward the important work ahead.”
How can this important work be turned into petty electioneering bitchingg by anyone.
@thomas molloy: Can’t the so called “opposition PR departments” not see that petty electioneering is loosing the votes big time.
@thomas molloy: Will he mention, you know, the thing that he and his party dare not mention? Because we’ve had over 100 years of FF and FG saying it’s not the right time? Because we don’t want to upset the unionists? It’s time we created a new Ireland for everyone.
@Anthony Curran: The crux of the matter is that ‘we’ means different things to different people. Your concept of ‘we’ may not be the same as someone else’s.
@thomas molloy: how can you support a man who stood over one of the biggest scandals in this country, organ retention.
They stole from man, woman, and child. He stands in the dail, shouting and making slurs at sinn fein constantly, and other members of his party.
Yet you are saying what a great leader he is. Mary lou is the leader of the very party he is now going to pick the boots of.
Twofaced comes to mind.
No, he is not electionteering at all.
@Colette Byrne: lick
@Colette Byrne: How can you promote a party that is the political wing of an organisation that within living memory blew men, women and children to smithereens. I suppose that is excusable because it was all for the “cause”.
@Vincent Alexander: Did your parents or grandparents vote for the civil war parties of FF and FG, parties who murdered men, women and children?
@thomas molloy: That ship sailed a while ago!
@Vincent Alexander: The British government shot innocent people on the streets (bloody Sunday), and colluded with killers to murder people suspected of crimes. Are you suggesting that nobody talks to the British government?
@Anthony Curran:
See good Friday agreement for details.
@H Woo: Is that what your bot manual says?
A shyster who couldn’t tell the truth, even if his life depended on it!
He will yeah
@Brian Hunt. I presume you are referring to the Tainiste. I worked with Hillary in the UK and found him to be basically sound!
@Padraig O’Brien: No, I meant Mehole. Don’t know much about Hillary, but his father Tony Benn was much in the news. Didn’t like his politics much but he came across as a man of decency and integrity!
@Brian Hunt:
The great socialist who used expert financel advice to minimise inheritance taxes on the transfer of his wealth to his children.
@H Woo: That’s not a hanging offence, you’d probably do the same for your children!
have your say