Kherson’s looted treasures show Ukraine’s cultural heritage as a casualty of war

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A portrait of Vladimir Lenin at the Kherson Regional Art Museum. (AN photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak)
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Father Ilya and civilians hoisting a chandelier that has fallen over due to Russian shelling at St Catherine's cathedral in Kherson. (AN photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak)
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Frames emptied of paintings Russian invaders are seen at the Kherson museum. (AN photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak)
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Updated 08 April 2023
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Kherson’s looted treasures show Ukraine’s cultural heritage as a casualty of war

  • Ukrainians say artworks, heritage sites, and even the bones of an 18th century military leader have been plundered
  • Official of Kherson Regional Art Museum accuses Russians of stealing 80 percent of the collection during occupation

KHERSON: Built in the early 20th century, Kherson Regional Art Museum stands proudly in the heart of the southern Ukrainian city. With its grand and imposing architecture, the historic building has variously served as the city council chambers, its main court, and even a public bank.

In 1977, the building became an art gallery, housing about 15,000 pieces — one of the biggest art collections in the country. Today, however, its walls are dotted with pinned paper notes identifying the many artworks looted during the Russian occupation of the city.

For eight months last year, Russian forces controlled Kherson. In November, following a massive Ukrainian counteroffensive, they were forced to abandon the territory but not without first removing thousands of exhibits from the museum’s collection.

According to a Human Rights Watch report of December 2022, “during this (occupation) period, and particularly over the final three weeks, Russian soldiers and other state agents working with them pillaged the Kherson Regional Art Museum, the Kherson Regional Museum, St. Catherine’s Cathedral, and the Kherson Region National Archives.”

Igor Rusol, deputy chief of the Kherson Regional Art Museum, estimates that about 80 percent of the valuable contents of the collection were stolen by the Russian occupiers and shipped by the truckload across the border into Russia.

“The Russian soldiers secured help from some civilians here to help them carry the art pieces,” he told Arab News. “But the civilians didn’t look right. They seemed drugged up and were homeless. I don’t think they were aware of the gravity of what they were doing.”




Igor Rusol, deputy chief of the Kherson Regional Art Museum, shows portions of the museum that had been emptied by Russian art looters. (AN photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak)

Rusol has been with the art museum for eight years. “This place is my soul,” he said. “I stayed during the occupation but I saw the looting coming. I prepared myself mentally for it but I remain disgusted with the situation.”

The material cost of the stolen artifacts is placed at hundreds of millions of dollars but Rusol said it is the cultural significance of the loss that matters most to him.

“Not only did they loot pieces, they stole the hard drives and books that served as our archives,” he said. “Thankfully we had backups and we are now working to finalize the list with a special commission office.”

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, at least 580 cultural sites have been damaged or destroyed across the country since Russia launched what it called a “special military operation” on Feb. 24, 2022, designed to “denazify” the Ukrainian government.

Among these sites are 22 archaeological treasures, 28 military graveyards, 42 historical districts, 268 architectural sites and 19 monumental art pieces. About 1,322 objects of cultural value have been damaged or destroyed.




Museum officials believe some items were looted purely for financial gain, while others were likely destined for Russian museums. . (AN photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak)

As of March 22 this year, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization had verified damage to 248 Ukrainian sites since the war began, including 107 religious sites, 21 museums, 89 buildings of historical or artistic interest, 19 monuments and 12 libraries.

The collections at the Kherson Regional Art Museum became vulnerable during the occupation when the number of staff on shift at the institution was reduced, Rusol said. It is thought that two employees with pro-Russian sympathies collaborated with the occupiers and advised them about what to take. One of the suspected collaborators subsequently moved to the Russian Federation and has not returned.

Rusol believes some items were looted purely for financial gain, while others were likely destined for Russian museums.

FASTFACTS

The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage and the looting and smuggling of artifacts are considered war crimes under the 1954 Hague Convention, to which both Russia and Ukraine are signatories.

Since Feb. 24, 2022, UNESCO has verified damage to 248 Ukrainian cultural heritage sites, including 107 religious sites, 21 museums, 89 buildings of historical interest, 19 monuments, and 12 libraries.

Russian officials might argue that the decision to remove artworks and artifacts was intended to protect them from harm. Indeed, when Russian forces declared martial law in annexed territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk in September, authorities were granted permission to “evacuate” items of economic, social and cultural significance. In October, Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported that two statues of historical Russian naval commanders were removed from Kherson “because of the threat of damage during shelling or terrorist attacks by the Ukronazis.”

As he gave Arab News a tour of the art museum, Rusol pointed out two portraits of Vladimir Lenin, the Russian revolutionary leader and founder of the Soviet Union.

“Isn’t it ironic that they left his portraits here?” he said.




The Russian looters were not interested in the portraits of Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union. (AN photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak)

The art museum had been undergoing restoration work before the invasion but, not surprisingly, the process has been put on hold. Rusol believes it will be a long time before it can resume.

“Firstly, Ukraine has to win the war,” he said. “I don’t think the restoration will take place during my lifetime. There are people who have lost their homes, whole towns raised to the ground.”

He suspects the war is not likely to end anytime soon.

“Russians are unpredictable and stubborn,” Rusol said. “They still insist there is no war. How do you reason with such people?”




A bust of celebrated Ukrainian poet, Taras Shevchenko was among those left behind by looters. (AN photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak)

It is not only precious artworks that have been looted from Kherson. At St. Catherine’s Cathedral, the grave of famed 18th century Russian statesman and military commander Grigory Potemkin was plundered and his remains moved across the Dnipro River to Russian-held territory, along with a statue of him.

To reach his resting place and remove his remains, the occupiers had to open a trap door in the middle of the church floor and go down a small flight of stairs. Little attempt appeared to have been made to conceal the theft.

“This church wasn’t properly looked after during the Soviet era,” Father Ilya, the cathedral’s priest, told Arab News. “It was us who restored it after we received our independence. We have guarded Potemkin’s remains and now they’ve desecrated him.”

Standing beside Potemkin’s looted grave, Father Ilya added: “Whether one is a prince or an ordinary man, the disturbance of a corpse should not be done. We have looked after his remains, we have taken better care of history than the Russians have.”




Father Ilya standing by the grave of Potemkin in Kherson's St Catherine's cathedral. (AN photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak)

Potemkin, an adviser to Empress Catherine the Great, played a critical role in the annexation of Crimea from the Ottomans in 1783. As a result, he is a celebrated figure among Russian nationalists. President Vladimir Putin even cited Potemkin’s legacy as part of his justification for Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

During a speech in September last year marking the annexation of several other eastern Ukrainian territories, Putin again mentioned Potemkin as one of the founders of many towns in the region, and he referred to the area as Novorossiya, or “New Russia.”

In 2021, prior to the invasion, Putin wrote an essay titled “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians” in which he expressed his belief that Russians and Ukrainians are one people artificially divided by borders and outsiders.

Russia is accused of seeking, on the basis of this disputed notion, to dismantle Ukrainian national identity, commandeer its cultural artifacts, rewrite its history, erase local traditions, and subsume its territory into the Russian Federation.




Artefacts packaged at the storage room in Kherson Regional Art Museum. (AN photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak)

Anastasia Bondar, Ukraine’s deputy minister of culture and information, described the destruction and looting of her country’s cultural heritage as a war crime.

“We will take this to court,” she told Arab News.

It will be a difficult task to identify and trace all of the artworks and artifacts that have gone missing since the invasion, she conceded, but added: “We will not give up on our history and we will take what is rightfully ours back.

“But it is more than the looted pieces. The invaders are purposely destroying our infrastructure and cultural sites; they are even burning our books.”

Asked whether more might have been done to protect heritage sites and collections before the Russian troops moved in, Bondar said there was simply no time to safely remove all of the items.

“We were not able to evacuate our museums properly because such things take time,” she said. “There are special ways to remove an artifact properly without causing any damage to the piece.”




Frames emptied of paintings Russian looters are seen at the Kherson museum. (AN photo by Mykhaylo Palinchak)

Ukraine is now lobbying for a special tribunal to be established to hold Russia accountable for its aggression and its consequences, including the alleged destruction of cultural heritage.

The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage and the looting and smuggling of cultural artifacts are considered war crimes under the 1954 Hague Convention, to which both Russia and Ukraine are signatories.

Back at the Kherson Regional Art Museum, where empty picture frames hang poignantly on largely bare walls, Rusol remains defiant, believing Russia will ultimately fail to quash Ukraine’s sense of national identity.

“They came here to destroy us and our culture,” he said. “But they won’t be able to.”

 


Explosion damages canal feeding Kosovo’s main power plants

Updated 30 November 2024
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Explosion damages canal feeding Kosovo’s main power plants

  • Faruk Mujka, the head of water company Ibar-Lepenci, told local news portal Kallxo that an explosive device was thrown into the canal and damaged the wall of a bridge

PRISTINA: An explosion on Friday evening damaged a canal in northern Kosovo supplying water to two coal-fired power plants that generate nearly all of the country’s electricity, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said, blaming what he called “a terrorist act” by neighboring Serbia.
There were no immediate reports of injuries and the cause of the blast, which also impacted drinking water supplies, was not clear. Serbian officials did not respond to requests for comment, and Reuters found no immediate evidence of Belgrade’s involvement.
“This is a criminal and terrorist attack with the aim to destroy our critical infrastructure,” Kurti said in a televised address. He said that some of the country could be without power if the problem is not fixed by morning.
In a sign of ethnic tensions between the two Balkan countries, Kurti echoed Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani by blaming Serbian criminal gangs without providing proof.
Earlier on Friday, Kosovo police announced increased security measures after two recent attacks where hand grenades were hurled at a police station and municipality building in northern Kosovo where ethnic Serbians live. It was not clear if the incidents were linked.
Local media showed pictures of part of the canal destroyed and leaking water and a heavy police presence at the site.
Faruk Mujka, the head of water company Ibar-Lepenci, told local news portal Kallxo that an explosive device was thrown into the canal and damaged the wall of a bridge.
He said the water supply, which also feeds drinking water to the capital Pristina, must be halted to fix the problem as soon as possible since it was the main channel for supplying Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), the country’s main power provider.
Independence for ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo came in 2008, almost a decade after a guerrilla uprising against Serbian rule. However tensions persist, mainly in the north where the Serb minority refuses to recognize Kosovo’s statehood and still sees Belgrade as their capital.
The EU’s Kosovo ambassador, Aivo Orav, condemned the attack that he said was already “depriving considerable parts of Kosovo from water supply.”

 


Senior Russian diplomat says possibility of new nuclear tests remains open question

Updated 30 November 2024
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Senior Russian diplomat says possibility of new nuclear tests remains open question

  • Moscow has not conducted a nuclear weapons test since 1990, the year before the collapse of the Soviet Union

MOSCOW: A possible resumption of nuclear weapons tests by Moscow remains an open question in view of hostile US policies, a senior Russian diplomat was quoted as saying early on Saturday.
“This is a question at hand,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS news agency when asked whether Moscow was considering a resumption of tests.
“And without anticipating anything, let me simply say that the situation is quite difficult. It is constantly being considered in all its components and in all its aspects.”
In September, Ryabkov referred to President Vladimir Putin as having said that Russia would not conduct a test as long as the United States refrained from carrying one out.
Moscow has not conducted a nuclear weapons test since 1990, the year before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
But Putin this month lowered the threshold governing the country’s nuclear doctrine in response to what Moscow sees as escalation by Western countries backing Ukraine in the 33-month-old war pitting it against Russia.
Under the new terms, Russia could consider a nuclear strike in response to a conventional attack on Russia or its ally Belarus that “created a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) their territorial integrity.”
The changes were prompted by US permission to allow Ukraine to use Western missiles against targets inside Russia.
Russia’s testing site is located on the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, where the Soviet Union conducted more than 200 nuclear tests.
Putin signed a law last year withdrawing Russia’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. He said the move sought to bring Russia into line with the United States, which signed but never ratified the treaty.

 


Ireland headed for coalition government following parliamentary election, exit poll suggests

Updated 30 November 2024
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Ireland headed for coalition government following parliamentary election, exit poll suggests

DUBLIN: An exit poll in Ireland’s parliamentary election released late Friday suggests the three biggest parties have won roughly equal shares and the country is headed for another coalition government.
A poll released as voting ended at 10 p.m. (2200GMT) said center-right party Fine Gael was the first choice of 21 percent of voters, with its center-right coalition partner in the outgoing government, Fianna Fail at 19.5 percent. Left-of-center opposition Sinn Fein was at 21.1 percent in the poll.
Pollster Ipsos B&A asked 5,018 voters across the country how they had cast their ballots. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.
The figures only give an indication and don’t reveal which parties will form the next government. Counting of ballots starts Saturday morning and because Ireland uses a complex system of proportional representation known as the single transferrable vote, it can take between several hours and several days for full results to be known.
The result will show whether Ireland bucks the global trend of incumbents being ousted by disgruntled voters after years of pandemic, international instability and a cost-of-living pressures.
Sinn Fein, which had urged people to vote for change, hailed the result.
“There is every chance that Sinn Fein will emerge from these elections as the largest political party,” Sinn Fein director of elections Matt Carthy told broadcaster RTE.
Though Sinn Fein, which aims to reunite Northern Ireland with the independent Republic of Ireland, could become the largest party in the 174-seat Dail, the lower house of parliament, it may struggle to get enough coalition partners to form a government. Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have refused to form alliances with it.
Here’s a look at the parties, the issues and the likely outcome.
Who’s running?
The outgoing government was led by the two parties who have dominated Irish politics for the past century: Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. They have similar center-right policies but are longtime rivals with origins on opposing sides of Ireland’s 1920s civil war.
After the 2020 election ended in a virtual dead heat they formed a coalition, agreeing to share Cabinet posts and take turns as taoiseach, or prime minister. Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin served as premier for the first half of the term and was replaced by Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar in December 2022. Varadkar unexpectedly stepped down in March, passing the job to current Taoiseach Simon Harris.
Opposition party Sinn Fein achieved a stunning breakthrough in the 2020 election, topping the popular vote, but was shut out of government because Fianna Fail and Fine Gael refused to work with it, citing its leftist policies and historic ties with militant group the Irish Republican Army during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.
Under Ireland’s system of proportional representation, each of the 43 constituencies elects multiple lawmakers, with voters ranking their preferences. That makes it relatively easy for smaller parties and independent candidates with a strong local following to gain seats.
This election includes a large crop of independent candidates, ranging from local campaigners to far-right activists and reputed crime boss Gerry “the Monk” Hutch.
What are the main issues?
As in many other countries, the cost of living — especially housing — has dominated the campaign. Ireland has an acute housing shortage, the legacy of failing to build enough new homes during the country’s “Celtic Tiger” boom years and the economic slump that followed the 2008 global financial crisis.
“There was not building during the crisis, and when the crisis receded, offices and hotels were built first,” said John-Mark McCafferty, chief executive of housing and homelessness charity Threshold.
The result is soaring house prices, rising rents and growing homelessness.
After a decade of economic growth, McCafferty said “Ireland has resources” — not least 13 billion euros ($13.6 billion) in back taxes the European Union has ordered Apple to pay it — “but it is trying to address big historic infrastructural deficits.”
Tangled up with the housing issue is immigration, a fairly recent challenge to a country long defined by emigration. Recent arrivals include more than 100,000 Ukrainians displaced by war and thousands of people fleeing poverty and conflict in the Middle East and Africa.
This country of 5.4 million has struggled to house all the asylum-seekers, leading to tent camps and makeshift accommodation centers that have attracted tension and protests. A stabbing attack on children outside a Dublin school a year ago, in which an Algerian man has been charged, sparked the worst rioting Ireland had seen in decades.
Unlike many European countries, Ireland does not have a significant far-right party, but far-right voices on social media seek to drum up hostility to migrants, and anti-immigrant independent candidates are hoping for election in several districts. The issue appears to be hitting support for Sinn Fein, as working-class supporters bristled at its pro-immigration policies.
What’s the likely outcome?
The exit poll bears out earlier opinion poll findings that voters’ support is split widely among Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, several smaller parties and an assortment of independents.
Before polling day, analysts said the most likely outcome is another Fine Gael-Fianna Fail coalition, possibly with a smaller party or a clutch of independents as kingmakers. That remains a likely option.
“It’s just a question of which minor group is going to be the group that supports the government this time,” said Eoin O’Malley, a political scientist at Dublin City University. “Coalition-forming is about putting a hue on what is essentially the same middle-of-the-road government every time.”
 


France on the back foot in Africa after Chadian snub

French soldiers stand at attention during a morning drill at the French military base in Chadian capital N'Djamena in 2014. (Reu
Updated 30 November 2024
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France on the back foot in Africa after Chadian snub

  • Chad abruptly ended its defense cooperation pact with France
  • Experts say that without Chad, French army will struggle to run other Africa operations

NAIROBI/GENEVA: A French plan to significantly reduce its military presence in West and central Africa risks backfiring and further diminishing the former colonial power’s influence in the region at a time when Russia is gaining ground.
A French envoy to President Emmanuel Macron this week handed in a report with proposals on how France could reduce its military presence in Chad, Gabon and Ivory Coast, where it has deployed troops for decades.
Details of the report have not been made public but two sources said the plan is to cut the number of troops to 600 from around 2,200 now. The sources said Chad would keep the largest contingent with 300 French troops, down from 1,000. However, in a surprise move that caught French officials on the hop, the government of Chad — a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in the region — on Thursday abruptly ended its defense cooperation pact with France. That could lead to French troops leaving the central African country altogether.
“For France it is the start of the end of their security engagement in central and Western Africa,” said Ulf Laessing, director of the Sahel Programme at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Mali.
“Chad was the aircraft carrier of the French army, its logistical headquarters. If Chad doesn’t exist, the French army will have a huge problem to keep running its other operations.”
In a further blow to France, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye told French state TV on Thursday it was inappropriate for French troops to maintain a presence in his country, where 350 French soldiers are currently based. France has already pulled its soldiers out from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, following military coups in those West African countries and spreading anti-French sentiment. Paris is also shifting more attention to Europe with the war in Ukraine and increasing budgetary constraints, diplomats said.
The review envisions the remaining French soldiers in the region focusing on training, intelligence exchange and responding to requests from countries for help, depending on their needs, the sources said. Chad’s move to end the cooperation deal had not been discussed with Paris and shocked the French, according to the two sources and other officials. France, which wants to keep a presence in Chad in part because of its work to help ease one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises unfolding now in neighboring Sudan, responded only 24 hours after Chad made its announcement.
“France takes note and intends to continue the dialogue to implement these orientations,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
One of the two sources, a French official with knowledge of Chadian affairs, said Chad’s government appeared to have seen the French decision to more than halve its military presence there as a snub. Chad also felt the French would no longer be in a position to guarantee the security of the military regime led by President Mahamat Idriss Deby, this source said.
Macron had backed Deby despite criticism since Deby seized power following the death of his father, who ruled Chad for 30 years until he was killed in 2021 during an incursion by rebels. Deby won an election held this year.
In its statement on Thursday evening, released hours after the French foreign minister had visited the Sudanese border in eastern Chad with his counterpart, Chad’s foreign ministry said N’djamena wanted to fully assert its sovereignty after more than six decades of independence from France. It said the decision should in no way undermine the friendly relations between the two countries. Earlier this year, a small contingent of US special forces left Chad amid a review of US cooperation with the country.
The French drawdown, coupled with a US pullback from Africa, contrasts with the increasing influence of Russia and other countries, including Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates, on the continent. Russian mercenaries are helping prop up the military governments of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, and are also fighting alongside them against Islamist militants. However, French officials and other sources played down Russia’s ability to take advantage of the French setback in Chad, at least in the short term. The French source familiar with Chadian affairs noted that Russia and Chad back rival factions in Sudan’s war. Russia also has major military commitments in Syria and the war in Ukraine.


Ireland votes in closely fought general election

Updated 29 November 2024
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Ireland votes in closely fought general election

DUBLIN: Voting got under way in Ireland Friday in a general election with the two center-right coalition partners neck-and-neck with opposition party Sinn Fein, following a campaign marked by rancour over housing and cost-of-living crises.
Polls opened at 0700 GMT and will close at 2200 GMT as voters choose new members of the 174-seat lower chamber of parliament, the Dail.
Final opinion polling put the three main parties — center-right Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, and the leftist-nationalist Sinn Fein — each on around 20 percent.
Counting is not due to start until Saturday morning, with partial results expected throughout the day. A final result, however, may not be clear for days as EU member Ireland’s proportional representation system sees votes of eliminated candidates redistributed during multiple rounds of counting.
Prime Minister Simon Harris was among the first to vote, in his constituency of Delgany, south of Dublin. The Fine Gael leader, who became Ireland’s youngest-ever taoiseach (prime minister) when he took over in April, held a solid lead entering the campaign.
But the party lost ground, in particular after Harris was seen in a viral clip appearing rude and dismissive to a care worker on the campaign trail.
“I’ve enjoyed putting forward my policy vision as a new leader, as a new Taoiseach,” Harris, 38, told reporters after voting.
“Now I’m looking forward to the people having their say.”
Some in his constituency did not share his optimism. IT worker Kevin Barry, 41, said he was unsure about voting “as all the options seem so terrible.”
He cited the housing crisis, in which a shortage is driving up rents. While leaning toward the governing coalition, Barry told AFP: “I am not really happy with them as they are responsible for the mess that we are in, particularly with regard to housing.”
For Peta Scott, 54, a health care worker and mother of four, housing woes meant it was “a challenge” for her children to stay in Ireland.
At the last general election in 2020, Sinn Fein — the former political wing of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army — won the popular vote but could not find willing coalition partners.
That led to weeks of horsetrading, ending up with Fine Gael, which has been in power since 2011, agreeing a deal with Fianna Fail, led by the experienced Micheal Martin, 64.
The role of prime minister rotated between the two party leaders. The smaller Green Party made up the governing coalition.
Harris has had to defend the government’s patchy record on tackling a worsening housing crisis and fend off accusations of profligate public spending.
A giveaway budget last month was also aimed at appeasing voters fretting about sky-high housing and childcare costs.
Both center-right parties stress their pro-business credentials and say returning them to power would ensure stability, particularly with turmoil abroad and the risk of external shocks.
Ireland’s economy depends on foreign direct investment and lavish corporate tax returns from mainly US tech and pharma giants.
But threats from incoming US president Donald Trump to slap tariffs on imports and repatriate corporate tax of US firms from countries such as Ireland have caused concern for economic stability.
Mary Lou McDonald’s Sinn Fein has seen a dip in support because of its progressive stance on social issues and migration policy, as immigration became a key election issue.
But it has rallied on the back of a campaign heavily focused on housing policy and claims it is the only alternative to the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, who have swapped power since Irish independence from Britain in 1921.
After voting in her central Dublin constituency, McDonald called Friday “a historic day where we can elect a new government for change.”
Asked if voting for Sinn Fein was a vote for a united Ireland, including British-ruled Northern Ireland, she replied: “Of course it is.”
“We are united Irelanders. We have an ambitious plan for a new Ireland.”
Retiree William McCarthy voted for the party but was unconvinced they would win.