Election fever starts to build

And so it came to pass… at midnight on Sunday the Stormont Executive was dissolved as the countdown began to the Assembly election on May 5. Of course, given that the DUP walked away from the Executive on February 3, Sunday’s milestone was little more than a box ticking exercise. But whatever the circumstances, the fact is we are headed for an election, and so far it’s looking likely to be one of the most important in a generation.

Widely tipped to return a majority is Sinn Féin, with Michelle O’Neill likely to take the post of First Minister – this will be the first time a nationalist party has held the role since the Executive was established 24 years ago. The latest LucidTalk poll shows Sinn Féin now stands with 26 per-cent of the vote, seven percentage points ahead of the DUP who hold 19 per-cent.

With unionism in disarray regarding the protocol, it looks like bad times for the DUP.

After a disastrous few years, the party has faced in-fighting and bickering and is seeing many of its core voters abandon ship opting for the more hard-wing TUV or Doug Beattie’s middle of the road UUP offering. Whatever way the votes fall, it looks likely to be an uncomfortable ride for Jeffrey Donaldson et al.

Alliance remains on target to be Stormont’s third largest party, seeing its share of votes rise to 16 per-cent, with the UUP taking fourth place with 13 per-cent. The SDLP remains unchanged on 11 per-cent, with the TUV claiming nine per-cent. Both the Greens and People Before Profit are currently sitting on two per-cent.

With such tight margins, it’s clear there’s all to play for as the campaigning starts to heat up.

The most important thing we can do individually now is make sure we are registered to vote so we can have all have our say come election day. Anyone not already registered has until April 14 to apply – do so now at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.