DUP says unionist voters 'must not repeat the mistake of 2022' which handed Sinn Fein a majority in Stormont

It comes after an opinion poll was published showing that the party will emerge from the upcoming council elections playing second fiddle to Sinn Fein.

The republican party will win 29.8% of first preference votes in this month’s council elections according to the poll, which was carried out by the Belfast-based firm Social Market Research (SMR).

The poll was commissioned by Liverpool University's Institute of Irish Studies and published in the Irish News.

It involved 1,013 Northern Ireland adults. The poll was carried our between April 11 and 21. It is not clear if it was done in person, by phone, or online.

The figure of 29.8% puts Sinn Fein almost seven points clear of the DUP, which is expected to get 23%, with Alliance coming in third with on 14.5%.

East Belfast MLA David Brooks said: “In many councils, unionism will be the largest bloc, but because of splits and divisions Sinn Fein could lead more councils, if this opinion poll is accurate.

"When the votes were counted last May and unionist seats were lost to non-unionists, people realised that splitting the unionist vote had gifted victory to Sinn Fein.

"We must not repeat the same mistake. Instead of dividing unionism, we must be moving forward together and building unionism.

"On the doors, many recognise the need to unite behind the DUP and we can see that Sinn Fein lead is narrowing in some polls but when the votes are counted, let’s not have that regret of splitting the vote again."

He advised unionist voters to "strengthen the DUP's hand in negotiations" to get the Windsor Framework changed.

• FORECASTED WINNERS AND LOSERS •

Sinn Fein had already emerged from last May's Assembly elections as the biggest party in Stormont, taking 27 seats to the DUP's 25.

The new poll says Sinn Fein is expected to attain the lead at council level by increasing its share of the first preference vote by 6.6% from the previous council elections in 2019.It says the DUP's vote will dip by 1.1% from 2019.

Alliance is expected to rise by 3.5% compared with 2019.

The Ulster Unionists will drop by 1.3 points, leaving it on 12.8%, the poll says.

It also predicts the SDLP will slide by 3.7 percentage points compared to 2019, leaving it with an 8.3% vote share.

The TUV meanwhile is forecast to more than double its 2.2% vote share in 2019, rising to 5%, and the Green Party is forecast to increase its vote share by 0.6 points to 2.7%.

The new SMR poll follows a LucidTalk poll for the Belfast Telegraph earlier in the week that suggested Sinn Fein will emerge with 29% of first preferences, and the DUP with 25%.

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