N Ireland's main British unionist party to choose new leader

Northern Ireland’s largest British unionist party is choosing a new leader, in a contest with two candidates and only 36 voters

LONDON -- Northern Ireland’s largest British unionist party was choosing a new leader Friday, in a contest with two candidates and only 36 voters. The Democratic Unionist Party, senior partner in Northern Ireland’s Catholic-Protestant power-sharing government, was choosing a replacement for Arlene Foster, who quit as leader and first minister last month amid recriminations over the impact of Brexit. Only the party’s eight lawmakers in the British Parliament and 26 Northern Ireland Assembly members can vote in the contest between Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots and lawmaker Jeffrey Donaldson. The result is due late Friday afternoon. A party rooted in the fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church, the DUP opposed Northern Ireland’s 1999 peace accord, but later became reconciled to it and agreed to share power with the Irish Republican Army-linked party Sinn Fein.