#sdo11

Eamonn O’Neill: “come out and vote – this is an important election” (#ae11 #sdo11)

Patrick Corrigan on April 20, 2011, 10:36 am | Readers 42

Eamonn O’Neill is hoping the voters of South Down will return him to the Assembly where he served a term from 1998, only to subsequently miss out in 2003 by the narrowest of margins, just 36 votes. The Castlewellan-based SDLP representative didn’t stand in the 2007 election but has maintained a high profile locally, currently serving as Chairperson of Down District Council, where he has spent thirty-fours years as a councillor. Over the years Sinn Féin’s vote in the constituency …

Cadogan Enright talks up the Green Party in South Down (#ae11 #sdo11)

Patrick Corrigan on April 18, 2011, 12:35 am | Readers 76

South Down, along with North Down and South Belfast, is one of the target constituencies for the Green Party, if not for immediate Assembly seats, then at least for growth in its voter base and local council representation. Their Assembly candidate in South Down is Cadogan Enright, already a sitting councillor on Down District Council and the recent runner-up to Steven Agnew for the Green Party leadership in Northern Ireland. I caught up with him while out canvassing in the …

FM #AE11 Row: ‘No-one’s mentioned it to me on doorsteps’ – McCallister (#sdo11)

Patrick Corrigan on April 14, 2011, 7:12 pm | Readers 13

Ulster Unionist deputy leader and South Down Assembly hopeful John McCallister may have helped spark a bad-tempered row after his Nolan Show rubbishing of the “we must stop Martin McGuinness becoming First Minister” sham fight, but it hasn’t made him any more convinced that it’s an issue on the minds of the electorate. When I spoke to Jim Wells in Newcastle this week, he reckoned that the First Minister question was one of the main issues being raised with him on …

Hyperlocal blogging the election #ae11 #sdo11

Patrick Corrigan on April 12, 2011, 12:46 pm | Readers 3

Assembly election coverage #sdo11 hyperlocal-style is up and running on newcastlerocks, with hustings coverage, runners and riders analysis, and the first of a few interviews with South Down candidates focusing their hopes on the electorate in and around Newcastle. There’s one with Sinn Féin’s Willie Clarke online and another, just-posted interview with Jim Wells of the DUP, whom I met while out canvassing the town’s Tullybrannigan Road area last evening. One of the blog’s followers responded to my twitpic (@newcastle_rocks) from …

Double jobbing or hedging bets #AE11

Patrick Corrigan on April 4, 2011, 10:36 pm | Readers 14

One of the issues which became a subject of heated debate at the Newcastle hustings was double jobbing. A significant number of the prospective MLAs for South Down are also bidding to be returned as councillors – a pattern which is repeated right across Northern Ireland. Of course, this would simply continue the current widespread practice of dual mandates at local council and Assembly levels which, at one level, is uncontroversial. For instance, at the hustings, the SDLP’s Eamonn O’Neill …

#AE11 Open thread: South Down (#sdo11)…

Mick Fealty on March 31, 2011, 12:34 pm | Readers 24

Okay, we’re going to run a series of open threads on a number of constituencies throughout the campaign. I’ve picked up South Down first partly because of John McCallister’s uncharacteristically undisciplined outburst last week. When you consider there is a boundary change in the north of the constituency that could take 2k Unionist votes out of the equation, it must be a pretty tough hill climb for him to get over the win line, not least because he was 2k …