MAY 5th : SIX COUNTIES VOTE THREE TIMES | ASSEMBLY, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND REFERENDUM

Sinn Féin – Shaping a better future for all

BY ROBBIE SMYTH

THE May 5th Assembly and local elections mark a watershed for Sinn Féin’s development as a party.
It is not just that there is an opportunity to improve on the 27 Assembly seats won in 2007 or the 126 councillors elected in the 2005 local elections. Nor is it that the party is on the cusp of becoming the largest political grouping in the Six Counties.
It is that running 40 candidates across each of the 18 Assembly constituencies shows not just the serious intent of the party organisation, it demonstrates also the incredible depth of talent, experience and ability that has emerged in Sinn Féin over the past 30-plus years and especially since the early 1990s when the party’s determination to create a lasting peace set the political agenda across Ireland.
The May 5th elections also mark another benchmark in Sinn Féin history, with the first elections after 12 Assembly and Westminster elections that party President Gerry Adams is not a candidate.
Adams was first elected in the 1982 Assembly elections. None of the Sinn Féin candidates took their seats in this or the 1996 ‘Framework Assembly’ where he also won a seat in the first and only election that used a List voting system in Ireland.
Adams stood in six successive Westminster elections, winning a seat in 1983, with just one reversal in 1992. In the current Assembly, he has won seats over the last three polls.
The launch of the Assembly election candidates on April 4th was chaired by Adams, who as a TD for Louth and leader of the enlarged Sinn Féin group in Leinster House showed the other tangible proof of the critical depth now achieved by Sinn Féin - that as the only all-Ireland political party it is also the only political group capable of achieving political change across the island.
Across the Six Counties, Sinn Féin will be seeking to make gains in the 18 Assembly constituencies that elect 108 members and the 26 councils that have 582 members.
In previous years, the party has made significant breakthroughs, including the election of Mitchel McLaughlin in South Antrim in 2007 and Philip McGuigan in North Antrim in 2003, a seat held by Daithí McKay in 2007. Other critical breakthroughs were Alex Maskey in South Belfast in 2003 and Paul Butler in Lagan Valley in 2007.
In other constituencies, such as West Tyrone and Upper Bann, Sinn Féin are trying to increase the party representation and these are key constituencies to watch on May 5th.

Six-County election results 1992 to 2010

Westminster 1992    10%
Local Council 1993    12%
European 1994    9.86%
Forum 1996    15.47%
Westminster 1997    16.1%
Local Council 1997    17%
Assembly 1998    17.63%
European 1999    17.33%
Westminster 2001    21.7%
Local Council 2001    21%
Assembly 2003    23.5%
European 2004    26.31%
Westminster 2005    24.3%
Local Council 2005    23.27%
Assembly 2007    26.2%
European 2009    26.04%
Westminster 2010    25.5%