AE22 - What happened, and what it means
· Who is happy? · Who is not happy? · Anomalies between votes and seats · Importance of transfers · Marginals: Upper Bann, Strangford, North Antrim, East Londonderry, Foyle · Turnout and its effects · The parties · What would happen if we elected 6 members instead of 5? Who is happy? Sinn Féin managed its best ever result taking 29% of the vote and 27 seats. They held every seat they won in 2017, increased their vote share and came fairly close in two other seats. Sinn Féin will nominate the next First Minister when the time comes to form an executive. The party clearly marked its dominance on the Nationalist side of politics, but if Sinn Féin’s goal is a United Ireland then they make not be as pleased. Nationalism lost 4 seats, decreased its overall vote share and came close to losing a fifth seat. Alliance will be over the moon. The party increase its vote share by over 4% points and more than doubled its number of MLAs.