After weeks of campaigning, 15 hours of voting, and a turnout of 54%, the curtain closed on the Northern Ireland Local Government Election 2023 in the early hours of Sunday morning. The count revealed a seismic shift in local politics that made Sinn Fein the first nationalist party to become the largest at local government level in Northern Ireland.
Sinn Féin surprised pundits and party activists alike by sweeping up 39 additional seats across Northern Ireland. Breakthroughs in Ballymena, Lisburn North and Coleraine show the party is advancing in Unionist areas. Yet it was still a good day out for the DUP which consolidated its vote and demonstrated that its base is supportive of the Assembly and Executive boycott. That said, high profile losses such as George Dorrian, the party’s group leader on Belfast City Council, and Lisburn and Castlereagh sitting Mayor Scott Carson made small dints to their armour.
While the ‘Alliance Surge’ continued, its momentum hit a roadblock. The expansion of the party did continue with a first seat in Fermanagh and Omagh District Council for the party, and the election of Northern Ireland’s youngest ever councillor in Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, but two losses in Derry and Strabane District Council and failed breakthroughs in West Tyrone, Portadown and Dungannon stalled their advancement west of the Bann.
As predicted, the decline of the UUP and SDLP continued. Losing 21 seats, the UUP clinged on to representation at Belfast City Council and made one gain on Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. For the SDLP, it was a difficult day out. Their successes in Belfast were not replicated across the board, with their representation on Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council slashed to one seat.
Jim Allister failed to make any inroads to the traditional DUP vote but did take one seat on Belfast City Council with representative Ron McDowell . The Green Party’s representation was cut to 5 seats, with party leader Mal O’Hara failing to get re-elected. People Before Profit also took a hit, with Fiona Ferguson and Matt Collins not returning to Belfast City Council.
Deeper analysis of the election confirms that all roads lead to the eventual return of the Executive and Assembly, but the DUP need some political cover to do so. Whether the UK Government will give them this remains yet to be seen.