2017 Northern Ireland Assembly Election Thursday March 02,2017

The 2017 election to the Northern Ireland Assembly was held on 2 March 2017

The election was held to elect 90 members (MLAs) following the resignation of Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness  in protest over the Renewable Heat Incentive Scandal 

 McGuinness' resignation triggered an election under law as his position was not filled. It was the sixth election since the Assembly was re-established in 1998.

The snap election was called after the collapse of the coalition led by DUP leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, the Deputy First Minister who stepped down in January 2017

 It was the first to elect 90 MLAs to the Assembly, a reduction from the previous 108.

Nominations opened on 27 January 2017 for the assembly election and closed on 8 February 2017

A total of 228 candidates are contesting the 90 available seats in the Assembly, a reduction from the 276 who contested the 108 seats available in 2016

1,254,709 people were registered to vote in the election (26,886 fewer, or a 2.1% decrease, compared to the 2016 Assembly Election)

 64.78% of registered voters turned out to vote in the 2017 Assembly election, up 10 percentage points from the previous Assembly Election held in 2016, but 5 percentage points less than in the first election to the Assembly held in 1998

Election Result

 For the first time unionists do not have the overall majority at Stormont

Sinn Fein has moved to within just one seat of matching the DUP in Northern Ireland following snap elections in Northern Ireland.

The NI Assembly election saw 27 seats returned for Sinn Fein, just one less than the Democratic Unionist Party.

The DUP clung on as the leading party after it polled 225,413 votes to Sinn Fein's 224,245 - the closest ever race for the Stormont Assembly. 

The SDLP claimed 12 seats, the UUP 10, the Alliance Party eight, the Greens two, People Before Profit one, the Traditional Unionist Voice one and one independent unionist.

The two leading parties now have three weeks to set up a government. Northern Ireland's power-sharing agreement stipulates that government must be run by nationalists and unionists in partnership.

If no agreement can be reached, another election will be called

Sinn Fein's party leader for Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill celebrates with party members Francie Molloy, left, and Ian Milne, right