Hardliners Advance

9 May 2005



UK Elections Show Discontent with Ulster Peace Process

As bad a day as Tony Blair had on election day last week, things were even worse in Northern Ireland for those committed to the fragile peace in the province. Not only did they lost seats at Westminster, but in the local councils, their vote was down, and they were losing seats as the count continued over the week-end. The defeats for the moderates suggest that the Good Friday Agreement, while not dead, is on life-support.

The biggest loss for the more accommodating politicos was David Trimble's. Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize along with John Hume of the Social Democratic Labour Party, Mr. Trimble was the first minister of the devolved Stormont government -- which has been suspended owing to violence and political gridlock. He lost his seat of Upper Bann to the hardline Democratic Unionist Party of Reverend Ian Paisley. The margin of defeat was over 5,000 votes. The UUP now holds just one of Northern Ireland's 18 seats at Westminster, down from 6 in the last parliament and form 10 when Mr. Trimble took over the party in 1995.

Meanwhile, the moderately green Social Democratic Labour Party held onto three of the 18 seats in the Westminster parliament. However, it lost the Newry and Armagh seat to Sinn Fein, and maintained its total of three only by taking South Belfast. In that constituency, the Unionist vote was split: 9,100 for the DUP, 7,200 for the UUP, with the SDLP finding its man elected with 10,300.

The DUP had a terrific night. It was a party of largely working class Protestant Protest, in the mold of George Wallace of Alabama. It now appears to be the mainstream of Orange thinking. It holds 9 of the 18 Westminster seats, and its vote in the council elections (the count for which is still underway) seems to be up 8+% while the UUP's is off almost 5%. This is the party that has said it will not talk to Sinn Fein until the IRA has proved to have disarmed itself. Or as Mr. Trimble said, "The basic underlying cause [of the shift to the DUP] is that the republican movement have not behaved properly over the years."

And yet, the militant green Sinn Fein, picked up a seat, to hold 5. It is now the majority party among the nationalist voters. The Republic of Ireland's leader, Bernie Ahearn, has said that Sinn Fein and the IRA are the same bunch -- that Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, is also part of the IRA's command structure. If so, it is hard to argue that the DUP is wrong in not talking to Sinn Fein from a moral standpoint. On the other hand, it is difficult to make peace if one won't talk to the opposition. Catholic Green and Protestant Orange ought to try acting like Christians.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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