Irisch Republikanische Solidarität








TC

SINN FEIN JOY AT ELECTION SUCCESS




As the dust begins to settle following Wednesday's Assembly
election, Republican joy at Sinn Fein's success has been
tempered by near-misses in many areas and the deep crisis now
facing the peace process.

With its traditional cavalcades in unlikely areas such as East
Derry and North Antrim, Sinn Fein is tonight celebrating its
increased representation in the 108-seat Stormont Assembly.

The party went from 18 to 24 seats, swapping positions with
the once-mighty SDLP, who dropped from 24 to 18 seats. In
terms of first preference votes, the party even outstripped
the Ulster Unionist Party by a narrow margin, and has now laid
claim to the position of Deputy First Minister in any new
Executive.

But that appears an unlikely goal in the short term. The
success of Ian Paisley's DUP, seizing a majority of unionist
seats in the new Assembly, amay have created the deepest
crisis in the peace process since the 1998 Good Friday
Agreement was signed.

The assembly has already been suspended for more than a year
ago and the parties went into the election against the
background of a deadlocked political process.

At the last election the UUP was the biggest party. Despite
the suspension of the Assembly, negotiations continued on the
implementation of the Agreement.

But the DUP has demanded the Good Friday Agreement be
renegotiated afresh while vowing that there will be no
negotiations with "Sinn Fein/IRA".

Nigel Dodds of the DUP said his party would be holding talks
with the government over the weekend.

"The DUP, in terms of percentage votes and the overall number
of votes, now speaks for the unionist community and now speaks
for more people in the province than any other party," he
said.

Meanwhile, the Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble said the
Democratic Unionists had "sold the people a false bill of
goods".

"They said there was some other agreement out there that they
could produce and which wouldn't have any of the awkward bits
in it."

He added: "The DUP can't deliver and that will become clear
and it will become clear very quickly."

He held out the possibility of another election in the near
future. If an executive is not formed, the Good Friday
Agreement states that another election should be held in six
weeks until a workable government is found. However, the
Britosh government has previously evaded this requirement by
suspending the Assembly, and Direct Rule from London continues
to be Britain's favoured strategy for dealing with stalemate
in the North.

Meanwhile, UUP rebel Mr Jeffrey Donaldson has dismissed
accusations that he was out-of-step with his own party by
pointing to his impressive personal poll of over 14,000 --
almost three quotas. He said: "If I am getting it so wrong,
why is the electorate supporting me? They want change."

Asked if he would challenge Mr Trimble for the leadership of
UUP, he said: "It is time for change and if a vacancy arises I
will consider putting my name forward".

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said it had been a good
election for his party.

"There is a crisis within unionism that will need some
patience for the rest of us to show in the time ahead," he
said.

"We will look to Mr Blair and Mr Ahern to reiterate their
commitment to fully implementing the agreement."

Pointing out that over two thirds of the electorate had vote
for pro-Agreement candidates, Mr Adams said: "We asked people
to endorse the risks we are taking for the process. The
message is very, very straight forward for everyone, the vast
bulk of people want this process to work.

"All of the main parties, indeed some of the smaller parties,
recognise that. So let's consolidate whatever happens as a
result of this election and move forward."

Asked to comment on the increase in DUP strength as a result
of this election, he: "I think the dialogue which we initiated
with unionism has to continue - it is key.

"I think the message for the DUP is, however well they do,
however badly they do, all the parties' supporters want the
peace process to work.

"All the parties' supporters want an agenda which is moving
forward and there can be no renegotiation of the Good Friday
Agreement."

Letzte Änderung:
29-Nov-03