Upper Bann – Can Sinn Féin take two?

UPPER BANN, a constituency whose heartbeat was strongly unionist and fertile ground for the SDLP when former party heavyweight Bríd Rodgers was their standard bearer, is now a signal constituency for Sinn Féin.

Strong showings in the 2011 Assembly elections when Johnny McGibbon came close to securing the party's second Assembly seat and an even better showing in the 2015 Westminster contest as Catherine Seeley secured almost 12,000 votes demonstrate that support for the republican party is growing.

As we approach the elections on 5 May, the mood of party activists at the candidate launch in Banbridge on Monday 4 April was quietly confident.

John O'Dowd has shown himself to more than capable as Minister for Education in the Executive and Cat Seeley (as demonstrated by her ability to handle the serious threats against her when she was forced out of her job as a teacher in a north Belfast) is no mean political operator.

They are facing into an election that could yield two seats for Sinn Féin “but the work needs to be done and every door needs to be knocked and every voter canvassed”, say Cat Seeley and John O'Dowd in an appeal for people to get behind their campaign..

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