The outcome of the US election matters to Northern Ireland, the leader of the official Opposition at Stormont has said.

Matthew O’Toole paid tribute to the role previous US administrations had played in the peace process in the region.

The race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump for the White House is expected to be close as millions of Americans cast their vote.

Former US president Donald Trump playing golf at Turnberry golf course during his visit to the UK in May 2023
Former US president Donald Trump playing golf at Turnberry golf course during his visit to the UK in May 2023 (Jane Barlow/PA)

The counting process is expected to start in the early hours of Wednesday, UK time.

Speaking in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday morning, Matthew O’Toole said the world is focused on the outcome of the election.

“For those of us who think the US, when led properly and in the right context, can provide positive leadership, the past year or more has been extraordinarily difficult,” he told MLAs during members’ statements.

“We have seen what has amounted to genocide in Gaza, we have seen unconscionable and almost indescribable loss of human life.

“That has happened, it has to be said, with the tacit engagement of a US administration that appears to have attempted at times to try and restrain that, but had not been successful. That’s been very difficult for those of us who believe that the US can play a positive role in the world.

US Vice President Kamala Harris attends the second day of the AI safety summit, the first global summit on the safe use of artificial intelligence, at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire in November 2023
Kamala Harris attends the second day of the AI safety summit, the first global summit on the safe use of artificial intelligence, at Bletchley Park in November 2023 (Leon Neal/PA)

“It is, however, important to say that the outcome of this election is still extraordinarily important. When it operates at its best, any US administration can play a hugely positive role in the world including on the island of Ireland.

“These institutions, our agreement, would not exist as they currently exist without a positive active role by the United States, by successive administrations. We may not have returned last year to do our job had there not been positive, active engagement by the President Biden administration.

“I want to acknowledge the enormously important and positive transformational role that an active US administration can play and has played here in Northern Ireland and on the island of Ireland, and to that end, the outcome of this election matters.”