Sinn Fein's Adams praises "watershed" election Ireland's republican party Sinn Fein has garnered 27 seats in Northern Ireland's semi-autonomous 90-seat assembly in a snap election. In a historic shake-up, unionist parties lost their absolute majority in Northern Ireland's legislature, for the first time since the province's creation in 1921, winning 28 seats. Sinn Fein's president Gerry Adams says the election is a "watershed". IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES