DUBLIN (Reuters) - Sinn Fein will name a successor to Martin McGuinness on Monday to lead the Irish nationalist party into Northern Irish elections in March, its president Gerry Adams said on Friday.
McGuinness, a key figure throughout five decades of conflict and peace, bowed out of politics on Thursday, saying illness and Northern Ireland's current political crisis had led to him to step down several months earlier than planned.
The new leader will need to repair relations with the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, with which Sinn Fein led the British province's power-sharing devolved government for a decade before its collapse this week.
"We will consult our Ard Chomhairle (national executive) over the weekend and we will make the announcement of Martin's successor on Monday. We're blessed with a huge number of candidates," Adams told national broadcaster RTE.
Adams would not say who was in contention. Michelle O'Neill and Conor Murphy, younger parliamentarians not directly involved in Northern Ireland's three decades of conflict that ended in 1998, played more prominent roles during McGuinness' illness.
Sinn Fein and the DUP are expected to remain the largest parties after the March 2 election, which will be followed by lengthy renegotiations on the terms of power-sharing to avoid a return to direct rule from London.
McGuinness signalled on Thursday that Adams, Sinn Fein's leader in the Irish Republic where it is a growing force, was also preparing to make way, marking a generational change for the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Adams said while a plan was in place, he would not be setting a date for his departure and that one big announcement at the beginning of the year was enough.
"It's enough that we absorb Martin's vacating of that office, make the election as sensible as possible and then get the political institutions back in place. We'll return to this at some other time," Adams said.