General Election 2010 – Sinn Féin
With 25.5% of the vote SF beat the DUP by 3,700 to get the highest vote of all parties (helped, of course, by DUP absence in FST and North Down). That’s the first time ever in General Elections. (One of the things you wonder about late at night is what would have happened in 1921 with today’s demography?)
Obviously FST was the highlight although the falling nationalist turnout there and, indeed, everywhere must be a big worry to the party – Total SF vote 172k cf. 180k in Assembly 2007 and 174k in Westminster 2005.
Apart from holding what they had SF’s big effort came in North Belfast – Kelly now within 2224 votes of Dodds (interestingly UCUNF not squeezed here, although below the SDLP.). If this constituency exists at the next GE (and the coalition could fall apart over Coulson or AV or appalling Lib Dem results in Scottish and Welsh elections) then SF are favourites IMHO.
As to becoming the biggest party in the Assembly? It does look like that relies on UCUNF / TUV & Alliance revivals and some nationalist co-operation in the Antrim seats outside Belfast. The game changing outcome would be for SF to become the biggest party and nominate a Unionist First Minister……what odds could I get on that?
Topic: Politics
Region: Northern Ireland
Do you know what China is doing in Africa?
Making the orginal colonizers look like humanitarians, is what.
What is Bernadette up to?
“There weren’t any major wars in Europe after WW1 & WW2 because a divided Germany wasn’t in a position to start any.”
No, because of MAD. The proxy wars had to be fought elsewhere.
Ermmm…………..the balls over there……….see ??
Back to the bad old days, then? You’re essentially talking about the reconstitution of the pre-1960s Unionist and Nationalist parties. You may be right, although there is one ray of hope: that the entrenchment of the principle of consent might allow the constitutional issue to slip down the list of political priorities and for a policy-based dialogue to replace the current identity-based one.
Recent voting patterns on the unionist side suggest a lack of concern for maintaining DUP as largest party, or even voting unionist. The constutional position is such that its obvious that each election is no longer a referendum-the union is not in threat from DUP losing votes.
There could of course be a European Civil War.
slug…for the record, I believe that many WW2 veterans are exactly like the ones in your own family. Indeed many leading Europhiles like Ted Heath were motivated in part by their WW2 experiences.
Many are not…and exactly like the ones I described.
Not sure how Nick Griffins RAF ground crew daddy feels about European integration.
I cant invoke the memory of any WW1 or WW2 veterans in my family. But my Uncle drove a Volkswagen.