NPR

First Female Leader Of Sinn Féin Looks At Fresh Start For Party

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

Mary Lou McDonald was elected the new leader of Sinn Féin at a conference in Dublin on Saturday, in what represents a major shift for the left-wing Irish republican party.

In a first, the party's leadership is entirely female; McDonald is the only woman to have led Sinn Féin, which was founded in the early 1900s.

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