Voting into a Void? The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly Election
Voting into a Void? The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly Election
复制标题
投票无效？
DOI：
10.1111/1467-923x.13168
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发表时间：
2022
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Tonge J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Tonge J
2022年5月的北爱尔兰议会选举见证了该地区政治平衡的重大变化。第一次，一个民族主义政党成为最大的政党，新芬党的新领导地位允许该党提供第一部长。联合主义的主要政党民主统一党(DUP)被降至第二位。这一亚军位置使该党有权提名副首席部长。然而，在选举之后不久，民主联盟党拒绝这样做，因为根据1998年《耶稣受难日协议》建立的政治机构出现了危机。根据DUP的说法，只有在取消欧盟和英国政府2019年达成的欧盟议定书后，DUP才会恢复与民族主义者分享权力。该议定书独一无二地使北爱尔兰与欧盟规则保持一致，并要求对在大不列颠和北爱尔兰之间运输的货物进行检查。然而，除了工会主义者和民族主义者之间的竞争之外，这场选举的特点也是一个中间立场的政党有史以来表现最好的一个政党，这个政党既不支持这两种意识形态，也支持这两种意识形态，联盟的议会席位增加了一倍多。现在可以说北爱尔兰政治中的三大支柱：统一主义、民族主义和不结盟，每一个支柱都由一个政党主导。这篇文章考察了选举中发生的事情，评估了关键问题和政党的命运。
The election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in May 2022 witnessed significant changes to the region's political balance. For the first time, a nationalist party became the largest, with Sinn Féin's new leading position allowing the party to provide the First Minister. The main party of unionism, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was relegated to second place. This runner‐up position entitled the party to nominate the Deputy First Minister. However, in the immediate aftermath of the election, the DUP declined to do so, amid a crisis for the political institutions established under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. According to the DUP, it would return to power sharing with nationalists only upon removal of the European Union Protocol, agreed between the EU and UK government in 2019. The Protocol uniquely aligns Northern Ireland with EU rules and requires checks on goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Alongside unionist versus nationalist rivalries, however, the election was also marked by the best‐ever performance by a party of the centre ground subscribing to neither ideology, as Alliance more than doubled its Assembly seat tally. It was now possible to speak of three big pillars in Northern Irish politics: unionist, nationalist and non‐aligned, each dominated by a single party. This article examines what happened at the election, assessing the key issues and party fortunes.