Sinn Féin's electoral strategy began 17 years ago during the 1981 hunger strikes. Since those painful days and emotional election victories - beginning with Bobby Sands's historic win in Fermanagh/South Tyrone - Sinn Féin's election successes have brought the prize of freedom ever closer. Now, as the party fights another historic election, Laura Friel reflects on the terrible prison struggle which gave birth to the republican electoral strategy. Free article