EURO ELECTION COULD CHANGE HISTORY
Posted by Jim on May 20, 2019
Sinn Féin’s European election candidate in the Six Counties, Martina
television as campaigning for the European elections to be held across
Ireland reached a climax.
Ms Anderson appeared on UTV’s politics programme ‘The View from
Stormont’ with five other European election candidates standing in the
North: Diane Dodds (DUP), Naomi Long (Alliance Party), Danny Kennedy
(UUP), Colum Eastwood (SDLP) and Jim Allister (TUV).
Ms Anderson reminded Allister, whose party lost half of its elected
councillors in local elections earlier this month, that the North of
Ireland voted clearly against Brexit in the 2016 referendum.
But Allister reacted angrily, waving his hand up towards Ms Anderson’s
face. “Don’t you talk to me about democracy – you set out with the bomb
and the bullet,” he said. “You are a vicious bomber.”
“I think Jim needs some manners,” said Ms Anderson, before raising her
hand in a ‘body space’ gesture. “That’s twice Jim and I am going to ask
Jim, who is sitting beside me, to please have a little bit of manners
because you are in my face – no more!”
Thursday’s election to the European election will be closely watched to
see how Brexit politics has altered the traditional
nationalist/unionist split in the three-seat northern constituency.
A slight demographic shift since the last election in 2014 could
improve the prospect of a historic change from two unionist seats to
two nationalists. That could happen if Martina Anderson retains her
seat and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood wins enough first preferences to
avoid being eliminated before the moderate unionist (and anti-Brexit)
Alliance Party, who are also competing for the third seat against the
Ulster Unionist Party.
The stakes are high for both Irish unity and peace — the election of
two nationalists to one unionist would make the demand for a border
poll on reunification, a key element of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement,
irrefutable. That in turn could potentially bring about an end to the
armed actions of breakaway IRA groups.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald called for Martina Anderson to be
given the number one preference, before transferring to “pro-remain,
progressive candidates”.
“Brexit changes everything for all of us, and it’s for that reason that
we identify this as maybe a unique and unifying moment of solidarity
for people who want what is best for all of us right across Ireland,”
she said.
The SDLP parked their ‘battle bus’ symbolically on the Derry/Donegal
border on Wednesday as they launched their campaign to “take back
[former SDLP leader] John Hume’s seat in the European Parliament and
deliver a second pro-Europe MEP”.
Colum Eastwood was joined by Fianna Fáil TD, Charlie McConalogue, a
sign that the two parties are still on course for a future coalition.
“This is a critical election,” said Eastwood. “For three years, the
voice of the pro-Europe majority in northern Ireland has been silenced,
sidelined and ignored. That ends here and it ends now. This campaign is
an opportunity to reassert our demand to remain in the European Union.
“The European Union is proof that the simplest of ideas are always the
most powerful. After centuries of division and conflict, people across
Europe made a lasting choice. We decided that bridges work so much
better than borders.”
Also contesting the Six County Euro election on Thursday May 23 are
Claire Bailey of the Green party, Tory candidate Amandeep Singh Bhogal,
UKIP’s Robert Hill, and Independents Jane Morrice and Neil McCann.
European parliament elections also take place in the 26 Counties on the
following day.
Coverage of these, as well as the 26 County local elections also being
held on Friday, will begin here beginning on Thursday evening, with
full news of all the results as they emerge over the weekend.