It is a historic victory. The nationalist Sinn Féin party overthrew the decades-old unionists in Northern Ireland on Saturday. An election that marks a “new era” despite the risk of political paralysis. The victory allows the partisan Party of Ireland’s reunification, a former political showcase for the paramilitary group the Irish Republican Army (IRA), to appoint a local prime minister for the first time in the century-long history of a province fraught with tension over Brexit. .

The near-final results give Sinn Féin more seats than its unionist rival the DUP, loyal to the British crown, as the long count of ballots cast into ballot boxes closes on Thursday to appoint 90 elected members of local assemblies. Saluting “The Crucial Moment of Change” with admission “A New Era”Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein leader, Michelle O’Neill, 45, promised to bridge the divide. “I will provide inclusive, diversity-celebrating leadership that guarantees rights and equality to those who have been excluded, discriminated against or ignored in the past.”