Northern Ireland votes on assembly

Story Highlights

• Northern Ireland voters go to the polls to elect new parliamentary assembly
• Vote could lead to power-sharing agreement between Unionists and Republicans
• Hardline DUP and Sinn Fein have continually clashed during peace process
• Parties must meet March 26 power-sharing deadline -- or assembly abandoned

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BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- The people of Northern Ireland went to the polls Wednesday in a fresh effort to elect a new parliamentary assembly that could help to heal the troubled region's sectarian divide.

The hope is that assembly elections will round off the peace process begun in 1998 by seeing the Catholic Sinn Fein party, and their historical enemies, the Protestant hardliners of the Democratic Unionist Party, agree to serve together in a power-sharing executive.

Both parties also face challenges from the middle ground within their communities from the Protestant Ulster Unionists and the Catholic Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Around 1.1 million people are eligible to vote.

Previous deadlines have passed without consequences, but this time, the new assembly must form a 12-member Cabinet within a week after the election, and be ready to receive control of most Northern Ireland government departments by March 26. Failure would mean the assembly's abolition the next day.

Under the plan, if both sides fail to come together, the 108-seat assembly, based in Belfast's Stormont parliamentary building, would be abandoned and the region would revert to joint Irish and British control.

For the power-sharing assembly to work, the DUP must abandon its refusal to cooperate with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which supports a united Ireland. Unionists want Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK.

Asked by CNN whether he was prepared to work with Unionists and shake the hand of DUP leader Ian Paisley, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said he had "no problem."

"I think it is very, very important in terms of representing a community that for a long time was marginalised and excluded. We're about reaching out to the Unionists," Adams told CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley.

But Paisley told CNN the question of power-sharing depended on Sinn Fein keeping its political obligations and said Sinn Fein's recent decision to support Northern Ireland's new police service -- a key Unionist demand for power-sharing to be accepted -- had been "qualified."

"You can't pick and choose how far you are prepared to go for peace," said Paisley.

The Northern Ireland Assembly was formed in 1998 as part of the Good Friday peace agreement towards ending 30 years of sectarian violence, but was suspended in 2002 when an IRA spying scandal stoked Protestant anger towards Sinn Fein.

Subsequent efforts to heal the rift between the two sides have proved fruitless. However, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose government has steered the peace process since 1997, is believed to be keen that both sides should reach an agreement before he leaves office, expected to be later this year.

The polls are scheduled to be open until 10 p.m. (5 p.m. ET)

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