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The Northern Ireland Secretary of State Brandon Lewis will hold talks on Monday with the country's five main political parties.

He has said he hopes to encourage them to form an executive to run the devolved government as soon as possible.

It comes after Sinn Féin became the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly after last week's elections, pushing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) into second place.

Sinn Féin are nationalists and want Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to become one country - and this is the first time ever that a party which believes this has won an election in Northern Ireland.

Vice President of Sinn Féin, Michelle O'Neill described the result as a "defining moment for our politics and for our people".

"We will work with those who serve all other political perspectives, we will show respect and we expect to be shown respect."

However the DUP, who are unionists and want Northern Ireland to stay part of the UK, is not prepared to re-enter a power-sharing agreement until their concerns are addressed over the post-Brexit trading deal, the Northern Ireland protocol.

On Thursday 5 May, adults in Northern Ireland voted to elect politicians, called Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 seats that can be won by people representing different political parties in an election.

The results in 2022 meant Sinn Féin won 27 seats, while the DUP has 25.

The two parties winning the most seats come together to form the Executive, which is Northern Ireland's devolved government.

It has control over things like health and education decisions.

Unlike other parts of the UK where one political party can govern alone if they win the most seats, in Northern Ireland the government has to be two political parties working together, called a coalition.

The two parties must represent different political groups, which are either 'unionist', 'nationalist' or 'other'.

The largest party can nominate someone for the position of first minister, while the deputy first minister is nominated by the second largest party.

The first minister and deputy first minister share power of the Executive Office and despite the names, the roles are equal.

Following the election, Sinn Féin has replaced the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) as the largest party in the Assembly.

Sinn Féin is a nationalist party that wants a united Ireland, where Northern Ireland would no longer be a part of the UK and joins the Republic of Ireland to become one country.

Sinn Féin hasn't said whether there will be a vote on a united Ireland, but it's the first time in Northern Ireland's history that a nationalist party has become the largest in the country's Assembly.

The second largest party, the DUP, is a unionist party which wants Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK.

The May 2022 election result means Sinn Féin's Vice President, Michelle O'Neill is in line to become first minister of Northern Ireland.

But before ministers can take up their positions, unionists and nationalists have to agree to run Northern Ireland jointly and the chance of a power-sharing government between Sinn Féin and the DUP is very slim.

That's because the DUP has said it will be staying out of the Executive unless something called the Northern Ireland Protocol - a part of the Brexit deal to do with trade between Britain, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the European Union (EU) - is scrapped.

Northern Ireland was already without a fully functioning Executive when it went into these elections.

On 3 February 2022, the DUP's Paul Givan resigned his position as first minister in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Rules in Northern Ireland mean you can't have one political party in charge without the other, so Michelle O'Neill, who was Sinn Féin's deputy first minister at the time, was also forced to resign.

The Irish border is a sensitive issue because of the history of Northern Ireland.

In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to that part of the UK, included the removal of visible signs of the border on the island.

The Northern Ireland Protocol aims to avoid what is known as a 'hard border' where there would be a lot of checks when crossing from one country into the other - Which would go against what was outlined in the Good Friday Agreement.

When both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were part of the European Union, they automatically followed the same EU trade rules, which meant no checks on goods crossing the border were needed.

But a new arrangement was required after Northern Ireland (along with the rest of the UK) left the EU because of Brexit.

The Northern Ireland Protocol aims to continue the ease in which products can move between the Republic of Ireland, which is still in the European Union, and Northern Ireland which is part of the UK.

And, although the Northern Ireland Protocol makes it easier to move products across the Irish border, it means there are now new, stricter checks on goods crossing the Irish sea, entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

The DUP was in favour of Brexit, but doesn't agree with the Northern Ireland Protocol because it says it creates a barrier between Northern Ireland and Great Britain and that the country shouldn't have different rules to the rest of the UK.