Northern Ireland will hold snap election on March 2
Jen Mills
Northern Ireland will vote to elect a new Assembly on March 2, after Martin McGuinness resigned.
The Deputy First Minister, from Sinn Fein,
quit in protest at how he says the government wasted millions on a
renewable energy scheme, believed to have cost taxpayers £490m.
His decision plunged the power sharing system in Stormont into crisis.
The government in Northern Ireland works by
ensuring both Protestant and Catholic parties have equal power, a deal
to end decades of conflict.
McGuinness, a veteran of Sinn Fein, which
wants a united Ireland, said politicians from rivals the Democratic
Unionist Party (DUP) were to blame for the scandal.
DUP First Minister Arlene Foster repeatedly refused to step down to ease the way for an investigation.
She was accused of mismanagement of a
government ‘green energy’ program, the Renewable Heat Incentive, that
Foster eventually suspended as part of her previous Cabinet post.
McGuinness is a former Irish Republican Army commander who has helped to lead the unity government for nearly a decade.
He said in his resignation letter that he intends to trigger early elections in protest.
In his resignation letter, he accused Foster
of ignoring ‘a public mood that is rightly outraged at the squandering
of public money and allegations of misconduct and corruption.’
Foster survived a no-confidence vote in the Assembly last month solely because of backing from her own party benches.
‘That position is not credible or tenable,’
McGuinness said in his resignation letter addressed to Assembly Speaker
Robin Newton.
McGuinness had earlier said Sinn Fein would
refuse to nominate a successor to fill his position, which wields equal
power to Foster’s in the system designed to promote consensus across the
community divide.
No comments