NI election results 2022: What happens if Sinn Fein wins Assembly poll?

Counting of votes in the Stormont Assembly election 2022 in now under way, which could result in a historic shift in the balance of power.

Both the DUP and Sinn Fein are vying to be the largest party in Northern Ireland after the election, which comes with the entitlement to nominate the next First Minister.

If opinion polls are to be believed, the result will be a fight between the two parties to lose the fewest seats and thus emerge as the largest party.

Read more:Follow the results LIVE as they come in

If the projections are true at the ballot box, it means Sinn Fein's Stormont leader, Michelle O’Neill, would become First Minister.

This would mean the Irish nationalist party, which advocates a united Ireland would for the first time be the biggest party in Northern Ireland.

There is also a question of whether the 'Alliance surge' during elections in 2019 will continue, which could prompt changes to Stormont's system of power-sharing.

Unionists party has always been the biggest party in the Assembly and while the office of the first and deputy first minister is an equal one with joint power, the allocation of the titles is regarded as symbolically important.

The Executive was left unable to fully function in February when DUP first minister Paul Givan resigned in protest over the state of the protocol.

While ministers remained in post, they were restricted in the actions they could take.

At the last Assembly elections in 2017, the DUP won 28 seats, just ahead of Sinn Fein which returned 27 MLAs.

This year, the DUP has been regarded as playing it safe, running 30 candidates, compared to Sinn Fein's 34.

Results will roll in throughout the day as the count progresses. It will be many hours - and perhaps even Saturday or beyond - before we know the final outcome.

It means there will be an anxious wait for the 239 candidates contesting the election across Northern Ireland's 18 constituencies.

The count will take place at three count centres: Titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast, Ulster University in Jordanstown and Meadowbank Sports Arena in Magherafelt.

Five MLAs will be elected in each constituency - a total of 90 seats in the Assembly up for grabs.

Of the 18 constituencies, several are considered key battlegrounds. Take a look atour rundownof where gains could be made or lost.

Read more:BBC NI election debate: Rating the Stormont leaders' performances in battle for votes

Read more:Review of Stormont parties' Assembly election broadcasts

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