Our Friends In The North Go To The Polls

The elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly take place this week and may have interesting results. The Green Party in Northern Ireland is standing 13 candidates and are hopeful of achieving their first MLA or coming close. The big story for the mainstream media is what the balance between the loyalist DUP and nationalist Sinn Fein after the vote, but there is encouraging support for some of the smaller parties on the left. The Greens and the non-sectarian left in the North of Ireland have my great respect operating in a difficult political environment where their concerns can sometimes be sidelined by communal political concerns and the national question.

As well as the Greens there are two candidates for the Socialist Party in Belfast and one candidate each for People Before Profit and the Socialist Environmental Alliance of long term campaigner Eamonn McCann who align with Respect/SWP in English political terms.
Here is the Wikipedia entry on the election.

The election will be conducted using the single transferable vote applied to six seater constituencies, each of which corresponds to a UK parliamentary seat. The First Minister and Deputy First Minister will be chosen by the largest parties from the two different political designations. The Assembly as a whole will then elect the executive committee using the D'Hondt method.

And here is an interesting Wiki entry on the demographics and politics of Northern Ireland.

It will be interesting to see what changes after the vote.