#belw11

And the #belw11 winners were … Paul Maskey (26% of the electorate) and the EONI (165 minutes)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 10, 2011, 2:24 am

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Paul Maskey blowing out candles on a muffin - it's his birthday

It was going to be hard for either of them to trip up. Paul Maskey’s coronation to continue Sinn Fein’s reign in West Belfast would have required some kind of enormous scandal to have brewed up earlier this week to spoil his chances – and even the ongoing, rumbling Mary McArdle story wasn’t enough to do that. The Electoral Office wanted a slick, faster-than-expected result to cancel out some of the bad publicity surrounding the referendum and Assembly election counts …

The small matter of a Belfast West by-election #belw11 … and two questions

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 9, 2011, 7:03 pm

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It’s difficult to get excited about the Westminster by-election. Polling stations have been open again across West Belfast for the second time in five weeks. This time, it’s a simple one-ballot first past the post election to see who will replace Gerry Adams TD in Westminster. The count will start soon after 10pm in the Kings Hall, with boxes verified as they start to arrive from across the constituency. It struck me this morning that where else in the UK …

It’s quiet in the Kings Hall … #belw11 and #bels11 and #av state of play

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 7, 2011, 1:06 am

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Midnight in Kings Hall. The Belfast South and Belfast West Assembly counts have been suspended until 9am. The state of play in terms of surplus redistribution can be seen in more detail if you clock on the shots of the scoreboards. Five to one. Northern Ireland’s referendum counts are still continuing …and consequently have delayed the final announcement of the UK-wide totals from Friday until Saturday! Bristol was the second last hub to finish – at 9.30pm. Four hours later, …

Catching up with John Lowry (Workers Party) #lg11 #belw11

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 3, 2011, 9:05 am

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Workers Party SECT ARIA NISM election poster

In the last of this pre-election series of interviews with representatives from smaller parties contesting Assembly and/or council seats, I spoke to John Lowry, General Secretary of the Workers Party. (Update – adding link to their Election 2011 site.) John Lowry is standing for the Assembly in West Belfast and Lower Falls for Belfast City Council. The party is contesting all four Belfast Assembly constituencies. My earliest election memory as a child was pouring over the broadsheet 1983 general election …

Catching up with Jim Gorman and Paul Little, IRSP council candidates in Belfast #lg11 #belw #beln

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 29, 2011, 11:15 am

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On Thursday afternoon I spoke to IRSP’s two candidates standing for Belfast City Council: Jim Gorman (Lower Falls) and Paul Little (Oldpark). The party has another three candidates standing in Derry and Strabane. The first part of the interview looked at their candidacy in next week’s local elections; the second part looked at the IRSP more generally, its link with the INLA, God, apologies, policing and their view on current dissident activity. I asked about where the IRSP as a …

Gerry asks Protestants of West Belfast to get out and vote

Mick Fealty on March 30, 2011, 11:15 am

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Having more than likely twisted the arms of direct rule ministers to put in the clause that shifted the rules over who gets to be First Minister, Gerry Adams is now chiding Unionists gently saying they “should get real about what the issues are. The (First and Deputy First Ministers) have co-equal powers in a co-equal department.” But his next pitch was much more interesting. West Belfast no longer has a Unionist seat, not because it doesn’t have enough Unionists …