BELFAST (Reuters) – Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein secured far more first-preference votes in elections to Northern Ireland’s regional assembly than its rivals, indicating it was likely to win the election, broadcaster tallies showed.
Sinn Fein secured 29% of the vote compared to 21.3% by the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, data collated by Britain’s BBC and Ireland’s RTE broadcasters showed after first-preference votes were counted in all 18 constituencies.
Under Northern Ireland’s proportional representation voting system, the party that wins the most first-preference votes is not guaranteed of winning the most seats in the regional assembly but it is hard for a party to overcome a significant deficit.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Chris Reese)
