Story highlights Sinn Fein now has 27 seats to the 28 held by the Democratic Unionist PartyThe two parties, nationalist and unionist, must negotiate a new power-sharing government(CNN) The pro-British Democratic Unionist Party remains the biggest political party in the Northern Ireland Assembly with all the votes counted, but Irish nationalist rivals Sinn Fein have made major gains. With all 90 seats now declared after Thursday's snap election, the DUP now has 28 seats, just one ahead of Sinn Fein, and unionist parties now no longer hold a majority of seats overall. Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams welcomed the results, saying: "The Sinn Fein vote in this election was for equality, respect and integrity in government. Under Northern Ireland's complex power-sharing agreement -- established as part of the peace process -- a new government must be run jointly by unionist and nationalist parties. The DUP and Sinn Fein will now enter power-sharing negotiations to form a new government at Stormont.

Source: CNN March 04, 2017 10:41 UTC