LONDON

Voters in Northern Ireland will go to the polls for a second time this year as politicians failed to reach an agreement on forming a new devolved government within six months after the May 5 election.

Britain’s Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris announced on Friday that the snap election will be held but he will reveal the details next week on Friday.

Speaking to journalists in Belfast, Chris Heaton-Harris said he "will be calling an election" as the deadline passed.

Harris added that he is "deeply disappointed" to now be faced with "limited options."

"This is a really serious situation, as of a minute past midnight last night there are no longer ministers in office in the Northern Ireland Executive," the secretary said.

Harris said: "I will take limited but necessary steps to ensure that public services do continue to run and to protect the public finances but there is a limit to what the secretary of state can do in these circumstances."

"I hear it when the parties say that they really do not want an election at all. But nearly all of them are parties who signed up to the rules, the law," he added.

"That means I need to call an election so you'll hear more from me on that particular point next week."

The announcement came after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on Thursday blocked efforts to form a new Executive due to their ongoing stance on the Northern Ireland Protocol – an addendum to the UK’s EU Withdrawal Agreement, which keeps Northern Ireland aligned with EU trade rules to avoid a hard border with Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Assembly held a last-minute sitting to see if a deal could be struck between nationalist Sinn Fein and the DUP to form the new devolved government six months after the election.

Sinn Fein secured a historic victory in May, winning a majority of 27 seats in Stormont, making it the first nationalist party to take control of the assembly in its century of existence.

According to the Northern Ireland-specific law and the latest election result, a power-sharing devolved government can only be formed under an agreement between Sinn Fein and the DUP.

Sinn Fein nominated the party’s Vice President Michelle O’Neill as the new first minister, but the DUP has repeatedly refused to nominate a deputy and said it would not change its stance unless the Northern Ireland Protocol is scrapped.

Northern Ireland Protocol

The thorny issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol has played a huge part in the making of the new Executive since the election.

The DUP has consistently said it will not enter the Executive unless there is “substantial reform” to the protocol, which they believe creates a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK are subject to checks to protect the European free market.

The hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland had ceased to exist with the 1998 Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, an international treaty that ended decades-long sectarian violence in the region.

The central UK government in London has said the protocol, which was signed by the UK and the EU to be able to reach a Brexit deal, was causing problems a few months after and requested from the bloc a renegotiation on the specific deal. The EU has repeatedly said it would not renegotiate it and the UK must observe the rules of the agreement.

UK’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “restated his preference for exploring a negotiated solution to the current issues” of the protocol in a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday, reiterating the point of his predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

Troubles and Good Friday

Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum, and it is feared the Brexit process could trigger enmity in the region.

The Troubles, an era of conflict between the British government and pro-British paramilitaries on one side and Irish Republicans and nationalists on the other, ended in 1998. The UK and the Republic of Ireland signed the deal, brokered by the US and eight political parties in Northern Ireland, on April 10, 1998.

The deal largely saw the end of the Troubles-era violence, in which around 3,500 people lost their lives.

The UK, Ireland, EU, and US have all said it was paramount to protect the Good Friday agreement.

US President Joe Biden, who is of Irish descent, has repeatedly said the deal must be protected.

In the first phone call between Biden and Sunak, the leaders "agreed on the need to ensure the people of Northern Ireland have security and prosperity through preserving the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement," according to a Downing Street statement.