Image caption Polling stations closed at 22:00 GMT on Thursday

Polling stations have closed across Northern Ireland for the 2017 Assembly election.

The Electoral Office believe that turnout will be up on last year's figure which was 55%. Officials said their staff had been busy in all areas.

Two hundred and twenty-eight candidates are competing for 90 seats across 18 constituencies.

It is the second time the electorate had to choose a government in the space of 10 months.

Image caption The ballot boxes were taken to eight counting centres across Northern Ireland after the polls closed

Notices posted up at the entrance to polling stations at 21:00 GMT varied between a low of 46% in one district of Lagan Valley to a high of nearly 80% in one area of Mid Ulster.

Image copyright Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Image caption Former First Minister and DUP party Arlene Foster on her way to cast her vote

The ballot boxes were taken to eight counting centres across Northern Ireland after the polls closed.

The count will get under way at 08:00 GMT on Friday with the final results not expected to be confirmed until Saturday afternoon.

Image caption SDLP leader Colum Eastwood and his family on their way to vote in Londonderry

Image copyright PACEMAKER Image caption Sinn Féin's Stormont leader Michelle O'Neill outside her polling station

The polls opened at 07:00 GMT on Thursday and closed at 22:00 GMT.

The leaders of Northern Ireland's five main parties got out early to cast their votes.

Image copyright PACEMAKER Image caption UUP leader Mike Nesbitt outside Gilnahirk Primary School polling station

The 2017 Assembly Election was called after the resignation of former Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

This assembly election has seen one significant change from previous ones.

There will be a reduction in assembly members from 108 to 90.

Image copyright Stephen Hamilton Image caption Alliance Leader Naomi Long with her husband Michael just before casting her vote

Northern Ireland's 18 constituencies will return five MLAs each, not six as was the case beforehand.

The number of MLAs has been cut in order to reduce the cost of politics.

Forty-eight fewer candidates stood in this election than in May last year.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption How does the electoral system to elect MLAs work in Northern Ireland?

In Northern Ireland, the government must be run by Irish nationalists and unionists together.

When all of the 90 seats have been filled, the two biggest unionist and nationalist parties will get together to try to form a new government.

Image copyright Press Eye Image caption Northern Ireland's 18 constituencies will return five MLAs each, not six as was the case beforehand

Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly use a form of proportional representation called the Single Transferable Vote (STV).

Voters rank candidates in numerical preference.

Image caption A total of 1,254,709 people were eligible to vote

Candidates are then elected according to the share of the vote they receive. You can read an in-depth guide to the system here.

A total of 1,254,709 people were eligible to vote.

Image copyright Stephen Hamilton Image caption A total of 1,254,709 were eligible to vote in the election

The BBC News NI website will carry the latest election results and analysis on Friday and throughout the weekend.

There will also be special election programmes running on BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Foyle and BBC NI television.</s>Today, Northern Irish Assembly Elections have taken place. However, voters may be suffering from election fatigue for the last Assembly Election was a mere ten months ago. While that was a scheduled election, this latest round of voting was triggered by a profound collapse in the power-sharing process between the lead unionist party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and its Irish nationalist counterpart, Sinn Fein.

As part of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which set up the system of Northern Irish power-sharing government, the positions of First Minister of Northern Ireland and Deputy Minister are interlocking. In other words, should one of the holders of the two positions resign and the party to which they belong not nominate a replacement in the allotted time period, Assembly elections are called by the UK government’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

This is precisely what happened in January when Martin McGuinness, the then leader of Sinn Fein, resigned as Deputy First Minister and his party proceeded to offer no replacement.

Ostensibly, McGuinness resigned due to DUP leader and Northern Irish First Minister, Arlene Foster, refusing to temporarily stand down while an investigation was carried out into green energy scheme, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). Summarising this, Foster was as Minister for Trade in 2012, responsible for overseeing implementation of this initiative designed to increase consumption of heat from renewable sources in Northern Ireland. A whistleblower and an investigation into the scheme in February 2016 following a recent surge in demand, exposed its financial and administrative shortcomings. It has been nicknamed the ‘cash-for-ash’ scandal, with it projected to exceed its original budget by £490 million.

In reality, though, the RHI scandal was merely the coup de grâce to the survival of the power-sharing government between the DUP and Sinn Fein, as the rancour between the two parties was already heated following disagreement over a number of major issues.

Firstly, Northern Ireland remains the only nation in the UK to have not legislated for same-sex marriage. The attempted passing of it in the Assembly in 2015 resulted in the unusual situation of a marginal majority in favour, including the predominantly Catholic-supported Sinn Fein, but the predominantly Protestant-supported DUP helping block it. Brexit saw further divisions emerge with the DUP campaigning for leaving the EU while Sinn Fein were firmly pro-Remain. In the end, Northern Ireland overall voted to Remain, but the DUP do not see this as meriting pushing for continued membership of the single market. Finally, a recent initial plan by the DUP to cancel funding for an Irish language bursary provoked a strong reaction from nationalist Sinn Fein.

Sadly, and perhaps inevitably due to the generally combative nature of electoral campaigns, conciliatory rhetoric has not been to the fore of late between Sinn Fein and the DUP. Commenting on Sinn Fein’s central manifesto demand of an Irish Language Act, Foster rejected this, commenting that ‘If you feed a crocodile, it will keep coming back for more’. Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein, retorted ‘see you later, alligator’, while DUP MP Sammy Wilson, when asked whether he agreed with the caption on a Belfast mural of ‘IRA-Sinn Fein-ISIS, no difference’, replied ‘I do. Yes of course I do’.

The junior unionist and nationalist parties, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) respectively, as well as the neutral Alliance Party, have all called for greater cross-community cooperation. SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood, has warned that ‘it is the very idea of power-sharing in the North, which is now at risk’, while his UUP counterpart, Mike Nesbitt, took the unprecedented step of confirming his second preference vote would go to the SDLP.

The complicated Good Friday Agreement, designed to prevent any one side of unionists and nationalists feeling disadvantaged, may well be revised soon. Currently, most votes in the Assembly require what is known as a ‘parallel majority’, ensuring strong nationalist and unionist support for a measure. This cross-community voting system applies to votes on some matters as an obligatory rule, but can also be prompted on any vote by so-called ‘petitions of concern’, a tactic the DUP deployed when blocking same-sex marriage. Smaller parties, like Alliance, want this to be removed and a simple ‘supermajority’ of MLAs, regardless of their unionist/nationalist position, required for legislation to pass. Meanwhile, Arlene Foster has stated during the election campaign that she would like to scrap the ‘petition of concern’ as well.

The election is based on the proportional single transferable vote (STV) electoral system. Current polling places the DUP and Sinn Fein, the latter now led by Michelle O’Neill, on level pegging, some way ahead of the other parties. If this proves correct on polling day, Northern Ireland will be heading for a decidedly uncertain period of negotiations to form a new executive. If no agreement is reached between the two largest parties within 3 weeks, direct rule from Westminster will become a distinct possibility.

The Northern Irish Assembly’s teetering on the brink of collapse is made all the more desperate a situation by Brexit, for as the prospect of passport controls on the border with Ireland looms ever larger, now more than ever is the Assembly’s voice needed.</s>Arlene Foster's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is expected to maintain its status as the largest party in Stormont as voters in Northern Ireland go to the polls on Thursday (2 March).

The unionists secured more than 29% of the vote at the assembly election in 2016, with republican party Sinn Fein winning 24% of the vote.

A LucidTalk poll, of more than 1,500 respondents between 24 and 26 February, estimated the DUP to be on 26.3% (-2.9%) and Sinn Fein to be on 25.3% (+1.3%). Polls opened at 9am GMT and will close at 10pm GMT.

The number of seats up for grabs in the Northern Irish Assembly has been reduced from 108 to 90, with the number of MLAs being determined by the single transferable vote system, a form of proportional representation.

The DUP won 38 seats in 2016, against Sinn Fein's 28, but the Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire was forced to dissolve the assembly and trigger a snap election after former deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, resigned.

The top Sinn Fein politician made the move in protest over the botched Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, which could cost taxpayers £490m ($602m) over the next 20 years.

"This election is about the future of Northern Ireland and its political institutions," the senior Conservative told MPs.

"Not just the Assembly but all of the arrangements that have been put in place to reflect relationships throughout these islands.

"That is why it will be vital for the campaign to be conducted respectfully and in ways that do not simply exacerbate tensions and division.

"Once the campaign is over we need to be in a position to re-establish strong and stable devolved government in Northern Ireland."

The parties will have three weeks to agree on a power-sharing government under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. If a deal is not brokered, the UK government in Westminster could directly rule the province.</s>Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionists are on course to reinforce their grip on power at Stormont, with the republican party closing the gap on their unionist rivals.

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt quit after his party’s poor showing in the Assembly election. With the UUP failing to make any ground on the Democratic Unionists, and losing a number of high-profile seats, the former TV anchor fell on his sword. He said he will remain in position while a successor is found.

Mr Nesbitt said his real regret was that Northern Irish society appeared to have emerged from the election more polarised. He said the electorate had rejected his hope for a post-sectarian vote.

It has not been a good election for the Ulster Unionists and nationalist SDLP, both of whom failed to make the inroads they predicted. The vote share of the cross- community Alliance Party has risen.

Sinn Féin came within touching distance of polling the most first-preference votes for the first time.

The DUP maintained the top spot, despite its vote share falling as the Sinn Féin share surged. The DUP notched 225,413 first preferences, down 1.11 percentage points on last year, to Sinn Féin’s 224,245 — an increase of 3.89 percentage points.

In terms of the overall picture, the DUP secured 28.06% of first preferences to Sinn Féin’s 27.91% The final breakdown of seats may not ultimately be as close, as results in the proportional representation contest rely on transfers from other parties, but the republicans were nevertheless buoyed by the result.

The party’s northern leader Michelle O’Neill said: “I think it’s a brilliant day for equality; I think it’s a great day for democracy.

“I want to particularly commend all of our candidates that have been elected.

“The vote has increased. I think that is because people knew that action needed to be taken; they have had their say, we now need to get down to the business of fixing what’s wrong and delivering for all citizens.”

The poll was forced after Sinn Féin pulled the plug on the power-sharing institutions in protest at DUP first minister Arlene Foster’s handling of a botched green energy scheme, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

The campaign exposed other major policy disputes between the parties.

After being elected in her Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency, Ms Foster said: “I think it’s very clear that was absolutely not about RHI. It may have been the excuse but it certainly wasn’t the cause of the election.

“The cause of the election was Sinn Féin and republicanism wanting to rerun the election. They have mobilised their vote in a very effective way.

“I am pleased that the DUP has come out as the largest party in terms of votes. It is very clear in terms of unionism that it is the Democratic Unionist Party that speaks for unionism.”

She added: “I do hope devolution will get back up and running as quickly as possible.”

The DUP and Sinn Féin will have three weeks to resolve their multiple differences and form a new administration.

The reimposition of direct rule from London is on the cards if the post-election talks fail.

If the three-week post- election deadline passes, Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire is legally obliged to call yet another election.

However, in those circumstances, the government may pass emergency legislation to suspend devolution for the first time in 10 years, ahead of more lengthy negotiations.

In a major blow to the UUP, party stalwart Danny Kennedy lost his seat in Newry and Armagh.

His elimination followed the loss of another Stormont veteran — the SDLP’s Alex Attwood in west Belfast.

Mr Kennedy was a minority unionist voice in the Newry and Armagh constituency, which includes South Armagh and a former regional development minister at Stormont.

A massive swell in voting numbers has largely favoured Sinn Féin. Mr Kennedy said: “Sometimes when the tide comes in like that, you are washed away.”

Mr Attwood was a political Houdini who scraped into a seat repeatedly in the republican stronghold of west Belfast for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

He was the first heavy hitter to go during an election in which the reduction in the number of Stormont seats from 108 to 90 made casualties inevitable.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said Sinn Féin were the “net beneficiaries” of a huge nationalist turnout intent on punishing Ms Foster.

“The Sinn Féin vote has gone up very highly, which is a result of the overall context of this election, which has been pitched as a battle between the DUP and Sinn Féin,” he said.

“Those of us in the middle have been clearly squeezed.”

Turnout in the Northern Ireland Assembly election hit its highest level since the year of the Good Friday peace agreement.

Almost two thirds of the electorate voted with the future of powersharing hanging in the balance.

The number taking to the ballot boxes swelled to 64.78%, 10 percentage points higher than last year’s Stormont poll.

The snap Stormont Assembly election was called following January’s collapse of the ministerial coalition with the DUP and Sinn Féin at its helm in a row over a botched green energy scheme.

Soaring viewing figures for the two main TV leaders’ debates had hinted at a surge in voter engagement, something borne out on polling day.

What impact the increased turnout will have on the results will only start to become clear today.

In the first Assembly election after devolution began, in June 1998, 69.88% of voters turned out.

It came just months after the Belfast Agreement, which largely ended the 30-year conflict.

Some of the 18 constituency counts are set to extend into today.

A total of 228 candidates are vying for the 90 seats in Stormont’s slimmed-down devolved legislature.

The Assembly poll was the second in 10 months.

The last coalition executive led by the two largest parties at Stormont — the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin — collapsed in January, only eight months after last May’s election.

They fell out over the unionist party’s handling of a botched green energy scheme and are also at odds on a host of other issues.

If the former partners in government are again returned as the main players, they will have three weeks to resolve their multiple differences and form a new administration.

The reimposition of direct rule from London is on the cards if the post-election talks fail.

The Ulster Unionists and nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), which have presented themselves as an alternative partnership, are bidding to wrest control away from the fractious former allies.

The cross-community Alliance Party is also hopeful of a strengthened mandate.

If the three-week post-election deadline passes, Northern Ireland secretary James Brokenshire is legally obliged to call yet another election.

Five seats are up for grabs per constituency.</s>The Democratic Unionist Party has been narrowly returned as the biggest party but Sinn Féin was the biggest winner in the NI Assembly election.

The party has come within a seat of drawing level with the DUP, which came into the election with 10 more seats.

There were a number of electoral surprises - the most dramatic was the announcement by Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt that he was to resign.

Sinn Féin and the DUP have three weeks to establish a government.

A total of 64.8% of the electorate voted - up 10 points on last year's assembly election.

Former First Minister and DUP leader Arlene Foster, Sinn Féin's northern leader Michelle O'Neill, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood are among those elected.

Mike Nesbitt won his seat at the Strangford count but shortly afterwards, he announced that he was to stand down as Ulster Unionist leader following his party's poor performance.

Indicating that he will remain in position until his successor is found, he said his real regret was that Northern Ireland's society appeared to have emerged from the election more polarised.

"Some day Northern Ireland will vote as a normal democracy," he said. "We will vote in a post-sectarian election, but it's now clear it will not happen during the duration of my political career."

While Mr Nesbitt held his Assembly seat, other high-profile MLAs were not so lucky.

The SDLP's Alex Attwood, the UUP's Danny Kennedy, and the DUP's Nelson McCausland and Lord Morrow were four former executive ministers who failed to secure a return to a Stormont legislature that is being cut from 108 to 90 members.

Other casualties include the UUP's Jo-Anne Dobson, former DUP minister Jonathan Bell, who stood as an independent, and People Before Profit's Eamon McCann who was elected as an MLA last May but lost his seat in Foyle.

The turnout for the election was the highest since the vote which followed the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

The election - the second in 10 months - was called after the collapse of a coalition led by Arlene Foster's DUP and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness.

Mr McGuinness resigned over Mrs Foster's refusal to step aside as first minister pending an inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, which could cost the Northern Ireland tax payer £490m.

Under Northern Ireland's power-sharing agreement, the government must be run by Irish nationalists and unionists together.

The largest unionist and nationalist parties after the election will have three weeks to form a power-sharing government to avoid devolved power returning to the British parliament at Westminster for the first time in a decade.

A total of 1,254,709 people were eligible to vote for 228 candidates competing for 90 seats in 18 constituencies.

The BBC News NI website will carry all the latest on the election throughout the weekend.

There will also be special election programmes running on BBC Radio Ulster from 09:00 GMT .</s>BELFAST: The new Northern Ireland Assembly was taking shape on Friday (Mar 3) after snap elections that energised voters but ultimately could fail to resolve the deadlock that triggered them.

Tensions boiled over in January between the two parties in the power-sharing executive, collapsing the administration in the semi-autonomous British province.

But while early results showed that voters had surged to the polls, the outcome was likely to leave the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein as the two biggest parties.

If Sinn Fein still refuse to work with the DUP's leader Arlene Foster, who was Northern Ireland's first minister, then the assembly could be suspended and the province fully governed from London.

The first count results put the pro-British DUP almost neck-and-neck with Irish Republicans Sinn Fein.

The Protestant, conservative DUP was on 28.1 per cent, down 1.1 per cent from the May 2016 election. While the Catholic, socialist Sinn Fein on 27.9 per cent, a rise of 3.9 per cent.

With 32 out of 90 seats filled - Sinn Fein had 15, the DUP nine, four went to the cross-community Alliance Party and other groups took four.

Full results are not expected until Saturday due to the complexities of the proportional representation voting system.

Turnout figures from Thursday's polls showed the election got voters motivated.

The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland said 812,783 votes were cast, meaning a 64.8 percent turnout - up 9.9 per cent from May 2016.

It was the highest turnout since the first election after 1998 peace accords that re-established devolved government in Northern Ireland.

The election was triggered when Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness quit as deputy first minister over a costly, bungled green energy subsidy scheme rolled out by first minister Foster when she was economy minister.

Sinn Fein wanted her to step aside during an investigation.

Michelle O'Neill, who took over from the retiring McGuinness as Sinn Fein's leader in Northern Ireland, was elected on the first count in her constituency.

Foster topped the vote in her constituency but it was not enough to go through on the first round. Sinn Fein say they will not enter government if the DUP nominates Foster to become first minister again.

The parties have three weeks to strike some sort of deal, otherwise the Belfast legislature is likely to be suspended and its powers returned to London.

"After a brutal and divisive campaign there is no real expectation that the institutions will be up and running in the next few weeks," The Irish News newspaper said Friday in its editorial.

Besides the energy scheme scandal, old wounds between the two communities were also reopened by the United Kingdom's vote in June to leave the European Union, which the DUP supported but Sinn Fein opposed.

Britain has signalled its intention to leave the EU's customs union after Brexit, raising fears of a new hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which will remain in the EU.

London, Dublin and Brussels have all insisted they want to keep free movement across the Irish border - an arrangement dating from its creation in the 1920s.

But the possibility of a return to checkpoints has stirred memories of The Troubles, three decades of strife in Northern Ireland, in which more than 3,500 people were killed.</s>Northern Ireland goes to the polls on Thursday for the second time in 10 months but there is little prospect that the outcome will fix the province’s bitter political divisions. The two main parties both claim they want a fresh power-sharing government installed as soon as possible, but the enmity between them seems entrenched, with neither side prepared to give ground.

Snap elections were called in January after long-simmering tensions boiled over between Catholic, Irish Republican socialists Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party, which is Protestant, conservative and pro-British in its outlook. “I’d be more pessimistic than optimistic that the DUP and Sinn Fein can get back in a government together quickly,” Jonathan Tonge, a Northern Ireland politics expert at Liverpool University, told AFP in a view echoed widely by analysts.

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Sinn Fein’s deputy first minister Martin McGuinness quit in January, saying he could no longer work with Northern Ireland’s first minister Arlene Foster, the DUP leader. McGuinness resigned in protest over a botched green heating scheme, the breaking point after months of tensions with the DUP. Foster had instigated the scheme when she was the province’s economy minister. McGuinness is not standing again due to ill health but his successor as Sinn Fein’s leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, is showing no sign of softening the rhetoric.

“People are angry at the arrogance, disrespect and contempt,” she told Foster on Tuesday in a feisty televised debate. Gerry Kelly, a Sinn Fein north Belfast candidate, told AFP his party had taken a “huge decision”. “We could have sat on our seats for four of five years, but there were issues that were big enough as far as we’re concerned to bring back to the public,” he said. Throughout the election campaign, Foster has appealed for unionists to resist Sinn Fein’s demands.

“If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back for more,” she told a party rally. If the DUP and Sinn Fein end up as the two biggest parties — as polls predict — and cannot agree to form a power-sharing executive within three weeks, the governance of Northern Ireland will probably revert from Belfast to London for the foreseeable future. Aside from handing over budget control, business groups are concerned that would hinder Northern Ireland’s ability to attract much-needed international investment and tourism.</s>Northern Ireland goes to the polls on Thursday for the second time in 10 months but there is little prospect that the outcome will fix the province's bitter political divisions.

The two main parties both claim they want a fresh power-sharing government installed as soon as possible, but the enmity between them seems entrenched, with neither side prepared to give ground.

Snap elections were called in January after long-simmering tensions boiled over between Catholic, Irish Republican socialists Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party, which is Protestant, conservative and pro-British in its outlook.

"I'd be more pessimistic than optimistic that the DUP and Sinn Fein can get back in a government together quickly," Jonathan Tonge, a Northern Ireland politics expert at Liverpool University, told AFP in a view echoed widely by analysts.

Sinn Fein's deputy first minister Martin McGuinness quit in January, saying he could no longer work with Northern Ireland's first minister Arlene Foster, the DUP leader.

McGuinness resigned in protest over a botched green heating scheme, the breaking point after months of tensions with the DUP.

Foster had instigated the scheme when she was the province's economy minister.

McGuinness is not standing again due to ill health but his successor as Sinn Fein's leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, is showing no sign of softening the rhetoric.

"People are angry at the arrogance, disrespect and contempt," she told Foster on Tuesday in a feisty televised debate.

Gerry Kelly, a Sinn Fein north Belfast candidate, told AFP his party had taken a "huge decision".

"We could have sat on our seats for four of five years, but there were issues that were big enough as far as we're concerned to bring back to the public," he said.

Throughout the election campaign, Foster has appealed for unionists to resist Sinn Fein's demands.

"If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back for more," she told a party rally.

If the DUP and Sinn Fein end up as the two biggest parties -- as polls predict -- and cannot agree to form a power-sharing executive within three weeks, the governance of Northern Ireland will probably revert from Belfast to London for the foreseeable future.

Aside from handing over budget control, business groups are concerned that would hinder Northern Ireland's ability to attract much-needed international investment and tourism.

Voters head to the polls against the backdrop of Brexit, prompting uncertainty over the province's future relationship with the Republic of Ireland.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in January described Brexit as a "hostile action" by the British government, which will affect the border and have a "negative impact" on the province's peace agreement.

In last June's referendum on EU membership, Northern Ireland voted to remain in the bloc but was outvoted by an overall British majority of 52 percent to leave.

Ahead of divorce talks starting, Brussels and Britain have emphasised the importance of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement -- which ended three decades of violence and saw the checkpoints of the border replaced with an open frontier.

Both have rejected the idea of imposing a hard border after Britain leaves the bloc, but with Prime Minister Theresa May vowing to end free movement of EU nationals it is unclear how this will be possible in practical terms.

Britain's Northern Ireland minister James Brokenshire travelled to Brussels on Wednesday, where he said his government "will take no risks" with political stability in the province.

Elections in Northern Ireland usually see voters make their choice along tribal lines between unionists and nationalists.

Tonge argues that the "sectarian dynamics" in elections will ensure business as usual, regardless of unionist disquiet over the DUP's handling of the costly bungled energy scheme.

"If you ask an ordinary unionist voter, 'would you rather pay £50 to £100 a year to pay for this heating scandal or would you have a Sinn Fein first minister?', they take the financial hit," he said.

The polls are due to open at 7:00am (0700 GMT) and close at 10:00pm.

Northern Ireland's remotest polling station got its ballot box on Wednesday after a choppy ferry journey to the 140 residents on Rathlin Island.</s>BELFAST: Northern Ireland was voting on Thursday (Mar 2) in snap elections to resolve a political crisis fuelled by bad blood and Brexit, which is testing the delicate peace in the British province.

Long-simmering tensions boiled over in January when the Sinn Fein party - once the political arm of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) - brought down the province's semi-autonomous government.

That triggered fresh elections in the Northern Ireland Assembly, a legislature in Belfast in which representatives of once-warring communities have shared power on and off since a 1998 peace deal.

Observers predict a similar outcome to the May 2016 elections, in which the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party won slightly more seats than the pro-Irish republican Sinn Fein.

If the two parties cannot resolve their differences and form an administration within three weeks, the assembly's executive could be suspended and the province fully governed from London.

Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander who became Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, resigned in January in protest over a botched green energy subsidy scheme.

It had been instigated by First Minister Arlene Foster, head of the DUP, when she was economy minister.

Deeply engrained historical enmity was also exacerbated by the June vote for Britain to leave the European Union, which the DUP supported but Sinn Fein opposed.

McGuinness is not standing again due to ill health, and his successor as Sinn Fein's leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, has signalled a possible way out.

"We're up for going back into government but only on the basis of equality, respect and integrity," she told AFP on Wednesday.

"We cannot go into government with Arlene Foster as first or deputy first minister while there is a shadow hanging over her, but that doesn't mean we can't find a way forward."

Foster has appealed for unionists to resist Sinn Fein's demands for her to stand aside pending an investigation into the energy scheme. "If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back for more," she told a party rally.

On the streets of Belfast, there was disillusionment over the scandal. "I'm just fed up with all the corruption and all the scandals to do with the heating and all the rest of it," civil servant Catherine Aouad said.

Annette Martin, who works for the Marie Curie charity, said: "I'm not sure I expect an awful lot, to be honest, but I still wanted to make my vote."

Prime Minister Theresa May has said Britain will leave the EU's single market and likely the customs union after Brexit, which would make the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland the UK's only land border with the European Union.

London, Dublin and Brussels have all insisted they want to keep free movement across the Irish border - an arrangement dating from its creation in the 1920s, long before both states joined the EU's European Economic Community forerunner in 1973.

The Irish Republic's Prime Minister Enda Kenny was in Brussels on Thursday for talks which included the impact of Brexit on the Northern Irish peace process.

"I hope that numbers turn out, big numbers and that the result will be clear there can be an assembly and an executive put together," he said of the election.

Britain's Northern Ireland minister James Brokenshire emphasised the importance of a "frictionless" border during talks in Brussels this week, and promised to "take no risks" with political stability in the province.

In the Brexit referendum, Northern Ireland voted by 55 per cent for the UK to remain in the bloc, but across the entire kingdom, 52 per cent voted to leave.

Casting his ballot in east Belfast, Neal Wilson, a 34-year-old public sector worker, said he believed the fears were overblown.

"There is a lot of talk about how the Troubles will come back because we are not in the European Union. It's actually very insulting for the people here," he said, predicting a successful outcome from Brexit.

Some 228 candidates are standing to fill 90 seats. Polls close at 2200 GMT but final results are not expected until Saturday.</s>BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Northern Ireland was voting Thursday in snap elections to resolve a political crisis fueled by bad blood and Brexit, which is testing the delicate peace in the British province.

Long-simmering tensions boiled over in January when the Sinn Fein party — once the political arm of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) — brought down the province's semi-autonomous government.

That triggered fresh elections in the Northern Ireland Assembly, a legislature in Belfast in which representatives of once-warring communities have shared power on and off since a 1998 peace deal.

Observers predict a similar outcome to the May 2016 elections, in which the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) won slightly more seats than the pro-Irish republican Sinn Fein.

If the two parties cannot resolve their differences and form an administration within three weeks, the assembly's executive could be suspended and the province fully governed from London.

Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander who became Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, resigned in January in protest over a botched green energy subsidy scheme.

It had been instigated by First Minister Arlene Foster, head of the DUP, when she was economy minister.

Deeply engrained historical enmity was also exacerbated by the June vote for Britain to leave the European Union, which the DUP supported but Sinn Fein opposed.

McGuinness is not standing again due to ill health, and his successor as Sinn Fein's leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O'Neill, has signaled a possible way out.

"We're up for going back into government but only on the basis of equality, respect and integrity," she told AFP on Wednesday.

"We cannot go into government with Arlene Foster as first or deputy first minister while there is a shadow hanging over her, but that doesn't mean we can't find a way forward."

Foster has appealed for unionists to resist Sinn Fein's demands for her to stand aside pending an investigation into the energy scheme.

"If you feed a crocodile it will keep coming back for more," she told a party rally.

On the streets of Belfast, there was disillusionment over the scandal.

"I'm just fed up with all the corruption and all the scandals to do with the heating and all the rest of it," civil servant Catherine Aouad said. Annette Martin, who works for the Marie Curie charity, said: "I'm not sure I expect an awful lot, to be honest, but I still wanted to make my vote."

Prime Minister Theresa May has said Britain will leave the EU's single market and likely the customs union after Brexit, which would make the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland the UK's only land border with the European Union.
Northern Irish voters go to the polls to elect their new MLA representatives after a snap election was called following the resignation of Deputy First minister Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin over the mishandling by Democratic Unionist Party over the recent Renewable Heat Incentive scandal.