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up, the unionist vote overall has splintered in recent years and they've paid a price. there's no getting away from the fact that unionism needs to take a long, hard look at how we manage elections. the splintering of the unionist vote, the turnout, the differential, in turnout between areas. these are issues that we do need to address, and i'm happy to sit down with my fellow unionists and examine these issues. the dup�*s refusal to re—enter power—sharing at stormont was used by sinn fein as a campaigning tool and appears to have worked. the sense that sinn fein�*s leader here, michelle 0'neill, was prevented from becoming first minister by the dup�*s boycott, has seen sinn fein picking up key votes. the centre ground alliance party, who are neither unionist nor nationalist, also made some gains and have remained the third largest party in local councils. sinn fein ultimately wants to leave the uk and create a united ireland, but they don't put this front and centre.