The present system has limped along for two decades. It has delivered peace, but it has become increasingly incapable of delivering good—or sometimes any—government
) 30 years of sectarian violence . The peace deal was structured to prevent future conflict, and created a devolved government intended to bring the two sides together. The 90-seat Northern Ireland Assembly is the legislature. It can pass laws relating to most areas of policy, though some, including defence, currency and most taxation issues, are reserved to Westminster. Once elected, members of the Assembly must designate themselves as either unionist, nationalist or unaffiliated.
The executive is made up of ten ministers, with responsibilities including education, health, infrastructure and justice. Most ministries are allocated using the D’Hondt formula of proportional representation. After an election, any party with more than a handful of elected members gets to pick a minister in turn, according to its size.
The Good Friday Agreement prevents a government from being formed without the participation of the biggest unionist party and the biggest nationalist party. That is their ultimate leverage. If the first minister resigns, the deputy is automatically ejected from office . The government cannot function until they change their minds or an election is called—but even after that, if the same two parties come out on top, stalemate may continue. For almost 24 years, this system has limped along.
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