Sinn Fein

Sinn Fein VP Michelle O'Neill became first minister in the government that under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord shares power between Northern Ireland's two main communities.

The Irish nationalist party hailed a "new era" as it captured the largest number of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly for the first time.

The party's impressive election showing outpaced the country's two major parties and forced a political reckoning. So how did Sinn Fein shed its IRA-linked baggage and become the party of the young?

Northern Ireland is heading for a return to the power-sharing agreement, in a deal brokered by the governments of Britain and Ireland.

Mary Lou McDonald represents a new generation and could appeal to a wider range of voters in Ireland — but critics warn she's still inextricably tied to many of her party's hard-line policies.

The 48-year-old takes over the party with no direct connection to Ireland's period of bloodshed known as the Troubles.

The unusual arc of Martin McGuinness's public life culminated in his 2012 meeting with Queen Elizabeth II; both of them called it an important moment for peace.

Leading ministers resigned in a political crisis that has deepened along with allegations of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's role in a murder.

The Protestant cleric who bitterly opposed the IRA later forged an unlikely friendship with senior Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness.