In the last mandate David Ford liked to boast that the Alliance party was unique because they had been finally chosen to occupy the Justice department by the whole Assembly rather than selected by the mechanism of D’Hondt. Because of their status they are more essential to the formation of the Executive than the SDLP despite their fewer numbers. So what’s changed? A bit of bargaining is ok at a time of maximum leverage but the brinkmanship should end soon. …
So much comment about tactics and process! If they are to capitalise on a public mood for change, the SDLP like all the parties will have to concentrate on what they stand for beyond the old definitions. Reforming the education system to promote social integration and a diverse identity would be one big bold and creative approach to “making Northern Ireland work” And it’s actually in their manifesto. The SDLP appear to acknowledge that preserving the elements of the traditional …
In the event, that leaked internal SDLP report which suggest five of their Assembly seats were in trouble in this election accounted for two they lost (Upper Bann and South Belfast) and one they weren’t expecting (Foyle). Swapping leaders with just six months to go left Eastwood little time to prepare for the fray. Radio silence from November till his relaunch in a second conference just before the campaign opened meant that the upgrade in his speech went barely acknowledged. And yet …
Since the election and even before it, commentators have been casting around desperately for anything that suggests that the old muscle- bound duopoly is starting to crumble. Even the DUP “victory” is being hyped as a harbinger of change alongside the Sinn Fein “ defeat”. Something, anything that might mean fresh movement or greater stability. So the zeitgeist has moved in the direction of a more “normal “ democracy that an opposition signifies, and yet an opposition that doesn’t threaten …
Some will have noticed a pause in these rough post-election profiles of the main and mid-sized parties. The truth is I was struggling with what I could usefully say about the UUP. It wasn’t a great election for them, but they at least pulled back to 16 (from 13). On reflection in terms of content or the nature of their ongoing beef with the DUP it’s hard to see exactly what their campaign was for. Now Phillip Smith is a more …
The response of Sinn Féin’s new MLA for Foyle, Martin McGuinness, to being upstaged – at the moment of his re-appointment as Northern Ireland deputy First Minister – by the UUP leader Mike Nesbitt’s announcement that his party had unanimously agreed to go into official opposition in the NI Assembly, betrayed a confused, or forgetful, party lashing out at sceptics, and potential sceptics, alike. [Nobody puts Baby in the corner… – Ed] From the Sinn Féin press release [added emphasis throughout] Speaking after …
Following the 2016 Assembly Election, there is now an opposition in Stormont (or sorts). But why should a party take it, as the UUP have stepped forward to do. For the last number of years, the opposition to the executive, such as it is, has been unofficial, disparate and unruly. The naughty corner at Stormont, with John McCallister, Steven Agnew, Basil McCrea, Jim Allister, David McNarry & Claire Sugden (interestingly, 3 of those were elected to that last Assembly as …
I hope wrangling over whether there should be an opposition or not doesn’t overshadow the important business of agreeing an outline programme for government. Now is exactly the right time for all parties to pitch in on more or less equal terms with their ideas free of immediate electoral constraints. The election is over, Mike Nesbitt. Of course Alliance should be in on the talks unless you think the UUP is going to be awarded Justice. The good news is …
With only two weeks set aside to allow the new Northern Ireland Executive’s Programme for Government to be thrashed out, and agreed between the parties, you might think that time was of the essence. But apparently not… The BBC are reporting that there will be a delay to the start of those negotiations. That may be a surprise to the new Sinn Féin MLA for Foyle, Martin McGuinness. On Sunday he told the BBC that “On Monday, we will be entering discussions …
Chris Donnelly nailed it on one of the primary emerging themes during BBCNI’s coverage at the Belfast Count Centre yesterday. A 5% drop in Nationalist turnout in an election which actually saw overall turnout rise should trigger a profound review in both main parties. True it has probably been ill served by the false cover its been given over much of the last ten years out of legislate concern for maintaining a hard won peace. But in the process it …
… or an attempt to avoid ‘stupid’ questions about the party’s stated commitment to campaign against the fundamental principle of consent – that it is for the people of Northern Ireland to exercise their right of self-determination. Those are the options from a comparison between the commitments on Irish unity Sinn Féin presented to the people of Ireland in their manifesto for February’s General Election, and the ones presented in the slim-lined version to the people of Northern Ireland ahead of …
Last week Sam McBride pointed to an important underlying truth of this Assembly election campaign. Whilst Arlene Foster may get political money out of using her main partner in government at OFMdFM as some latter-day Guy Fawkes scare figure, there’s very little danger of it happening. At first glance, the gap may seem much closer than it actually is. Indeed, over two or three elections it’s possible to conceive that the crude mechanism of making the leader of the largest single …
Hot off the press – why spend ages searching for the Northern Ireland elections website on wifi, when you can download all the most relevant bits to your Kindle, phone or tablet for less than £3? Each constituency chapter contains: A map A description of which local government districts intersect with the constituency Basic demographic information from the 2011 census What happened in the previous Assembly elections in 1998, 2003, 2007 and 2011 What I think might happen this time …
The Detail investigative website continues to create impact by laying it out facts you might suspect the main parties have an interest in playing down with an election in prospect. Paradoxically that comparative reticence may be a form of implied cohesion between the DUP and Sinn Fein. But is it good enough? How should they respond? In their latest report following an inevitably rough audit of the last Assembly mandate the Detail gives a stark account of the level of …
On this morning’s SluggerReport I took a glance at Sinn Fein’s Ard Fheis in the context of the Assembly elections. There wasn’t much to say. Dolores Kelly’s attack on them last week may have been easily rebuffed, but the impression was of a victory celebration that never came off. It’s not just me either. The circumspect Gerry Moriarty noticed it too: It was a weekend to commemorate the past, celebrate the Dáil successes, prime people for the Assembly elections, plan …
Slugger had some the thickest coverage the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis, courtesy of Alan and live tweeting from David. But for a rich under the skin analysis of where Sinn Fein finds itself after more than fifty days of the 32nd Dail’s inability to decide a government you have to go far to find better Eoin O’Malley’s: In an election following years of austerity, with the water charges issue and even 1916, it seemed set up for a Sinn Fein breakthrough. But …
COMPLEXITY RULES: East Londonderry starts at Eglinton just outside Derry city, running up to the boundary with North Antrim on the coast. The hinterlands of Coleraine, Limavady, Dungiven and Garvagh all represent separate and distinct political territories.
The burden of incumbency and being at the fullest logistical stretch clearly leads to some awkward solutions. It seems that Sinn Fein is not the only party with what Tony Benn used to call ‘ishoos’ west of the Bann. Belfast’s hardest working pol hack Sam McBride reports… Last month the DUP announced that it was standing two candidates in the constituency – despite the fact that in last year’s general election its vote was less than the quota required for …
Very useful overview of where the SDLP finds itself just now from Suzanne Breen. I’d quibble over the list of places where the SDLP might be endangered, but I think she’s nailed something important here: Those critics who accuse the SDLP of betraying its traditional roots are wrong, because, from the very beginning, the party was a broad church. When founder member Austin Currie moved into southern politics in 1989 it was to join the highly conservative and pro-establishment Fine …
So here’s something to keep an eye on when the votes are counted. Julian Fowler has news of Sinn Fein’s vote management strategy in FST: ie it is to be a total secret between Sinn Fein’s election workers and its voters. As most of you with longish memories will remember, things in Fermanagh South Tyrone SF did not go according to plan in the selection process. So according to Fowler… Sinn Féin won three assembly seats in 2011 and this …
