John Manley in today’s Irish News reports that Sinn Fein’s ruling body might over-turn the decision of the Fermanagh/South Tyrone convention last Sunday to deselect former MP, Michelle Gildernew.
Manley writes;
The party’s ard chomhairle is due to meet on Saturday February 13 to ratify the result of Sunday’s Fermanagh-South Tyrone selection convention but party sources have indicated that the outcome is far from a formality.
The convention was re-run after an anomaly appeared between the number of delegates present and the number of votes cast.
The Irish News political correspondent goes on to write;
But one senior Sinn Féin source has told The Irish News that the party’s ard chomhairle is unlikely to ratify the Fermanagh-South Tyrone result.
“I can’t see them okaying this given how unpopular the outcome is proving,” the source said.
“Returning three MLAs in this constituency is already a challenge but with three Fermanagh men running and no Michelle it’ll be almost impossible.”
We could be going for round 3 very soon. As the party heads into the Southern election and gets ready for the Assembly election, it seems that for Sinn Fein “we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again.”
David McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs
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