Hardliners from both ends of the political spectrum are the winners of elections held in Northern Ireland last week. The polarization of politics is a sign of weariness and wariness on the part of voters and is another blow to the tattered Good Friday peace accords.
As a result, the British government is likely to continue its interim rule over the troubled province. What is more worrying is the likelihood that the refusal of Protestant hardliners to talk with their Catholic counterparts will guarantee deepening mistrust and perhaps a return to the internecine warfare of the past.
The Good Friday accords were based on a compromise between Protestants and Catholics: The two groups would put aside their hatreds to govern the province themselves. Direct elections were held to validate the agreement and to fill the General Assembly created by the agreement. Moderate Protestants, represented by Mr. David Trimble and his Ulster Unionist Party, joined with like-minded Catholics, led by Mr. John Hume and his Social Democratic Labor Party, or SDLP, to claim a majority in the 108-seat legislature.