Abstract
The Northern Irish Westminster general election of 6 May 2010 witnessed a mixture of striking episodes and more mundane continuities in Northern Ireland. Not for the first time in the history of the Northern state, these changes reflected the ethnic divide – the leaders of the two main unionist parties failed to win a seat (indeed, the First Minister and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Peter Robinson, was unseated), as did the leader of a much-vaunted unionist insurgency, while nationalist politics remained largely as-you-were. The election reinforced divisions at the communal and party political level that have been a hallmark of the 1998 settlement. As such, one of the main results of the general election was to sound a starting pistol for the race for control of the symbolically important post of First Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections scheduled for 2011.
Notes
The author wishes to thank Professor Arthur Aughey for this formulation.