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Originally Posted by Chris
1) agreed. Tot up the unionist vote across the 3 explicitly unionist parties and it stands at 40.1%. Sinn Fein has 29%. The system gives the chief executive position to the single biggest party, which may or may not be a party representing the views of the majority of the electorate.
2) not agreed. The Provisional IRA for which Sinn Fein was the political mouthpiece has long since shut up shop. Of course there’s still sectarian violence in Northern Ireland and a few dissenters have tried to appropriate the IRA mantle but Sinn Fein condemns violence whenever it occurs. Anyone old enough to remember the troubles should remember the word games Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and others used to play whenever the IRA blew something up. There is none of that now.
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McGuinness was a senior member of the IRA. The Catholic population still supports the IRA and its aims. Just look at the violence that occurs when an IRA cache of arms is found, and that's post-GFA.
Are we really expected to believe that the IRA disappeared completely. They just changed their name. Same people involved. As a certain somebody once said, "They haven't gone away, you know".
People didn't only start voting for Sinn Fein after the GFA.