After a week in which NI’s newest political vehicle seemed to veer into a ditch, NI21’s council candidate Johnny McCarthy in Lisburn North DEA won a seat and depriving the DUP of a 21st representative in the 40 seat council.
It was a shock since everyone had written off his chances earlier in the day.
After yesterday’s nail-biting 20 vote finish between Alliance’s Aaron Mcintyre and NI21’s Christina Dobson in Downshire East, all eyes had been on David Cairns with a couple of parties predicting he’d edge home ahead of Alliance’s Amanda Grehan in Lisburn South. That wasn’t to be. But transfers from eliminated SDLP and UKIP candidates eventually put him over the line.
Interviewed this afternoon, Johnny said “it’s a great day for PR!” I think he was referring to Proportional Representation … rather than Public Relations! You can also hear him speak at NI21’s candidate launch on 23 April.
The first representative elected under the NI21 banner. Will he ultimately be the last? Fellow candidates seem to feel there are a few more miles left in the NI21 vehicle yet. It’s bigger than Basil they said. They’ve no interest in joining Alliance. Time will tell.
Alan Meban. Tweets as @alaninbelfast. Blogs about cinema and theatre over at Alan in Belfast. A freelancer who writes about, reports from, live-tweets and live-streams civic, academic and political events and conferences. He delivers social media training/coaching; produces podcasts and radio programmes; is a FactCheckNI director; a member of Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland; and a member of the Corrymeela Community.