Sinn Fein set for historic gains in Northern Ireland local elections

May 20 (UPI) -- Sinn Fein, considered the oldest political movement in Ireland, is set to overtake the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland elections Saturday, a move that could have consequences across Britain.

With the vote, Sinn Fein will become the largest party in both local government and at Stormont -- the Northern Ireland assembly -- for the first time in history after winning at least 139 local council seats, with 12 seats still to be filled, the BBC reported.

Sinn Fein became the largest party at Stormont after last year's assembly elections. The assembly, as well as Northern Ireland's governing executive, are not functioning due to the DUP's boycott of post-Brexit trading rules.

"Historic change is happening right across the island, and this election has seen a record number of Sinn Fein councilors elected," Michelle O'Neill, the vice president of Sinn Fein, said in a statement.

She added, "You have supported positive leadership and a First Minister for all, and a party that wants to get the Assembly up and running, to deliver first-class council services, support people through the cost of living crisis, and invest in the health service."

Sinn Fein, a derivative of the original party founded in 1905, has long sought independence from British rule and the reunification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland as a single, sovereign nation. It is a left-wing, democratic socialist party despite being nationalist and republican.

The DUP, meanwhile, is a conservative party loyal to the British crown that historically pressured London to take a harder line against the Irish Republican Army.

Sinn Fein served as the political wing of the IRA during the "The Troubles" of the 1970s and 1980s but has since claimed independence from them.

On the party's website, Sinn Fein notes that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which was reached in 1998 to provide a referendum on Irish unity. The party believes such a referendum will happen "this decade."