Does boring Election in NI finally mean we’re becoming….normal…?

The election week started out very strange here in Belfast with the President of Sinn Fein Gerry Adams having to defend his use of a racist word in a tweet that related to the Tarantino film Django Unchained. Adams is known to tweet some very strange stuff for someone in such an important position, but many, if not all, thought this was a step too far. The tweet was deleted, a press conference was called, an apology was offered, but the issue ‘hasn’t gone away, you know’.

Meanwhile, back on planet earth, the ballots in the Northern Ireland Election started a few hours ago. 276 candidates will be fighting it out for 108 seats with over 1,000 boxes being counted at eight count centres across the country. Northern Ireland always has to be a wee bit different and doesn’t do an overnight count despite 2,200 electoral staff drafted in to count the votes. Some candidates will cross the line later today, but the full shape of the new Assembly won’t be known until Saturday afternoon. At this point, turnout looks like it is around the same level as the 2011 election, but at 54.7% it is still nothing to write home about. Many areas across NI are reporting voter turnout between 50%-60%.

Fifty miles south of Belfast the Republic of Ireland looks like it has finally got its act together and will form a minority government with Enda Kenny most likely to be returned as Taoiseach. However this is now the fourth time after a ten-week hiatus since the General Election that this has happened, so you just never know.