Northern Ireland elections: voters brace for Groundhog Day at polls

Bar a dramatic surprise, DUP will continue its boycott, raising further doubts about viability of region's institutions

Northern Ireland is about to test the dictum that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity.

Political deadlock triggered a forthcoming assembly election that is expected broadly to replicate the result of an election last May and produce the same deadlock. That it will take place in winter underlines the sense of Groundhog Day, except it is an entire region of 1.9 million people reliving the same experience.