London – Northern Ireland's two main rival parties have continued to increase their domination of Belfast's 108-seat assembly at the expense of most other parties following the latest elections.
The pro-British Democratic Unionists (DUP) won 38 of the seats, up two from 2007, while the all-Ireland republican Sinn Fein increased their number of assembly members from 28 to 29, after two days of counting the results of Thursday's poll.
In the elections, which largely reflect the Protestant-Catholic divide, the Ulster Unionists (UUP) and nationalist SDLP each lost two seats, gaining 16 and 14 seats respectively, while the non-sectarian Alliance Party went up by one to 8 in the only other change from four years ago.
Under the power-sharing agreement, the DUP and Sinn Fein will retain five and four members respectively of the 12-seat executive and the SDLP one. The only question to be resolved is whether the DUP will qualify again for two again or if one of the seats will go to the Alliance for the first time.
When the assembly reconvenes it will also be decided if DUP leader Peter Robinson stays on as Northern Ireland's First Minister and Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister.
The elections were part of a series held on Thursday that left the UK more politically fragmented, with the Scottish Nationalists winning their first overall majority in the Edinburgh parliament and Labour increasing their domination of the Welsh assembly at a time when Britain is ruled by a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.
As in Scotland, the Lib Dems also suffered heavy losses in council elections in England after being discredited as the junior partners in London's coalition, while there was also an overwhelming rejection by two-to-one for voting reforms to the British parliament in a coinciding national referendum. (IRNA)
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