In May last year, Sinn Féin became the largest party for the first time in the People’s Assembly at Stormont in Belfast, where pro-British trade unions have held a majority since 1921.

Sinn Féin is approaching around 31 percent support in local elections and has secured 137 of the 462 seats up for election. By comparison, the union party DUP has won 118 seats. 16 seats are still up for grabs.

– A historic shift is taking place and Sinn Féin is leading change across Ireland, says Northern Ireland party leader Michelle O’Neill.

After last year’s general election, the union party DUP refused to participate in the new coalition government with Sinn Féin.

The division of powers in Northern Ireland is based on a system created in conjunction with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of violent conflict between Protestants and Catholics. The two highest positions in government – first minister and second minister – will be divided between the largest trade union party and the largest nationalist party.

Both positions had to be filled for the government to function, and when the DUP refused to participate, the regions were left without the authority to govern themselves.

O’Neill said Saturday that voters wanted an end to the boycott.

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