Lots of Elections

[LK Today]

Firstly...

WARNING - CANDIDATES, I AM WATCHING THIS PAGE!!!!!

Secondly, my day today has totally been taken up with elections! As many of you know, I am acting as Senior Elections Officer this year, and have been working a lot on that. But there were other elections things today too...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/default.stm

As expected, it is DUP and Sinn Fein at the top, but I don't think I was prepared for both to poll so well. As someone who grew up with Ian Paisley as an MP all my life, he still is, and who was taught from a young age to hate SF, this is quite scary.

Can the UUP or SDLP, or even the AP, do anything to stop them?

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http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37102636

[David Bean]

Tom D'Ardenne may be the best Association President we've had in many years, but I think expecting him to fix Northern Ireland may prove slightly optimistic!

I'd be more interested to find out what these parties were actually saying about the Assembly in their election materials. Given that just about everyone wants the resumption of devolved government, yet they nevertheless seem to have voted in masses for the parties historically least favourable to the idea of working together, can this mean that the parties' positions on co-operation have changed substantially?

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Psalm 91:7

[LK Today]

AP meaning Alliance Party, not Association President. Though, Tom does have a lot of experience of Northern Ireland politics from working with Laura and I for a year...

Quoting David Bean from 20:26, 8th Mar 2007
Tom D'Ardenne may be the best Association President we've had in many years, but I think expecting him to fix Northern Ireland may prove slightly optimistic!

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http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37102636

[Bizarre Atheist]

Quoting LK Today from 20:18, 8th Mar 2007
WARNING - CANDIDATES, I AM WATCHING THIS PAGE!!!!!
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http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37102636

Lee you're starting to scare me.

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http://www.race2paris.co.uk
http://standrews.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204763785

[Fawksie]

It's not really that much of a shock, after the absolute trouncing that the more moderate UUP and SDLP got in 2003, more of the same was to be expected.

Frankly I think it's a good thing that SF are countering the DUP like for like. If the DUP found themselves with a majority, I imagine they'd waste very little time in backtracking on what they've been preaching recently. They've been digging their heels in for years with regard to power-sharing with SF, and now that SF have come round I think they're scared. From the whole decommissioning fiasco onwards they've constantly been finding excuses to push it back, despite numerous and repeated reports from the Independent Monitoring Commission supporting SF's claims that the IRA is finally disarmed and stood down. I don't think the DUP ever expected it to get this far.

You say you find it quite scary? I find Ian Paisley and his devotees scary. The man has spent his life and his political career opposing Nationalist civil rights, gerrymandering, Catholics in general, the old Parliament's links with the Dáil, homosexuality, Sunningdale, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Good Friday... The fact that you were "taught from a young age to hate SF" is a wee bit worrying, if not entirely unexpected. Coming from the other side of the fence myself I can't say that we were ever taught to actually hate Ian Paisley and the DUP. But the conditioning exists, a bit like the way we used to avoid Belfast because, I was told, "People get shot in Belfast."

[LK Today]

Sorry, I think you've just pointed out to me the potential ambguity of my first post.

I was 'taught' to hate Gerry Adam by a communty where many people actually believed that Paisley was some sort of local representative for God, and that everything he said was true and should never be questioned. Luckily i managed to get out of this mindset.

I don't 'hate' Paisley, but I do have extremely serious concerns about his politics and what those politics have done in N Ireland over the last 30+ years.

Neither do I 'hate' Gerry Adams, but again I am quite concerned about what he has been up to during that time to. I am glad to see SF giving the DUP a run for their money. I was particularly pleased to see Diane Dodds lose her seat in West Belfast, but that's more a personal thing than anything else- I ust cannot stand the woman.

But I am sad to see that in East Londonderry it looks like John Dallat (SDLP) is going to lose out to Billy Leonard (SF). I am saddened to see that right across the 18 constituencies the shift from the moderate to the extreme, even more pronounced that the last Assembly electon and the last General election.

One small victory can be claimed of this election however - Anna Lo (AP) in South Belfast. Northern Ireland's first ethnic minority in office, at any level of government, and I am told the frst Chinese woman to hold office in the UK. Go Anna!

Quoting Fawksie from 02:10, 9th Mar 2007
It's not really that much of a shock, after the absolute trouncing that the more moderate UUP and SDLP got in 2003, more of the same was to be expected.

Frankly I think it's a good thing that SF are countering the DUP like for like. If the DUP found themselves with a majority, I imagine they'd waste very little time in backtracking on what they've been preaching recently. They've been digging their heels in for years with regard to power-sharing with SF, and now that SF have come round I think they're scared. From the whole decommissioning fiasco onwards they've constantly been finding excuses to push it back, despite numerous and repeated reports from the Independent Monitoring Commission supporting SF's claims that the IRA is finally disarmed and stood down. I don't think the DUP ever expected it to get this far.

You say you find it quite scary? I find Ian Paisley and his devotees scary. The man has spent his life and his political career opposing Nationalist civil rights, gerrymandering, Catholics in general, the old Parliament's links with the Dáil, homosexuality, Sunningdale, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Good Friday... The fact that you were "taught from a young age to hate SF" is a wee bit worrying, if not entirely unexpected. Coming from the other side of the fence myself I can't say that we were ever taught to actually hate Ian Paisley and the DUP. But the conditioning exists, a bit like the way we used to avoid Belfast because, I was told, "People get shot in Belfast."

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http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37102636

[sweet]

I feel that a big factor in all this is tactical voting - each side fears that the balance of power will slide in the other's direction if they do not vote SF/DUP to oppose. Frankly I find Northern Ireland politicians embarrasing - Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley are seen by the rest of the world as typical Norn Irelanders... erk.

Fawksie: this "I think it's a good thing this bastard's countering that bastard" - well no, it isn't (IMHO). It's a completely destructive downward spiral. Northern Ireland should be electing politicans to build bridges and houses, to improve education and community relations etc etc, not for petty opposition. Ideally.

[Fawksie]

I wish. Northern Ireland at the moment is incapable of electing politicians on merit. Tribal voting is going to be around for a long time.

[David Bean]

Hey Lee, now that you're a candidate, in talking about elections on a thread about elections after expressly warning candidates not to do so, have you not retrospectively broken your own prior ruling?

(Just in case you were still looking for reasons for the EOC to fine you some votes )

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Psalm 91:7

[Al]

So who's running the election - the Union one, I mean - now that the Senior Elections Officer is a candidate?

[Akasha]

Arabella Grinstead is Senior and Adam Fellows is deputy.

[exnihilo]

Quoting Fawksie from 17:55, 9th Mar 2007
I wish. Northern Ireland at the moment is incapable of electing politicians on merit. Tribal voting is going to be around for a long time.

We don't do so well on voting on merit in the rest of the UK either. It's become a case of ticking a blue candidate if you like Cameron and a red candidate if you like Blair - doesn't much matter who they are, they're centrally selected, parachuted in, and slaves to the party hierarchy, so what you actually want them to do has nothing whatever to do with it.

British democracy - alive and well. Ha.

[ShinyHappyPerson]

Quoting exnihilo from 15:05, 11th Mar 2007

We don't do so well on voting on merit in the rest of the UK either. It's become a case of ticking a blue candidate if you like Cameron and a red candidate if you like Blair - doesn't much matter who they are, they're centrally selected, parachuted in, and slaves to the party hierarchy, so what you actually want them to do has nothing whatever to do with it.

British democracy - alive and well. Ha.

Still, at least you actually get a chance to vote for all the major parties. Neither Labour or the Lib Dems even stand in Northern Ireland and the Tories only run in some constituencies and generally do abysmally.

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"its the best thing since instant mashed potato"

[LK Today]

Quoting shinyhappyperson from 19:28, 11th Mar 2007

Quoting exnihilo from 15:05, 11th Mar 2007

We don't do so well on voting on merit in the rest of the UK either. It's become a case of ticking a blue candidate if you like Cameron and a red candidate if you like Blair - doesn't much matter who they are, they're centrally selected, parachuted in, and slaves to the party hierarchy, so what you actually want them to do has nothing whatever to do with it.

British democracy - alive and well. Ha.

Still, at least you actually get a chance to vote for all the major parties. Neither Labour or the Lib Dems even stand in Northern Ireland and the Tories only run in some constituencies and generally do abysmally.

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"its the best thing since instant mashed potato"

The Alliance Party are connected to Lib Dem and SDLP to Labour. Hence the yellow and red thing. Had a wonderful, extremely drunken, conversation with Jane-Ann Liston (Lib Dem) about this. Love her!

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http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37102636

[Guest]

Quoting David Bean from 20:26, 8th Mar 2007
Tom D'Ardenne may be the best Association President we've had in many years, but I think expecting him to fix Northern Ireland may prove slightly optimistic!

What exactly did he do? Put his name to a strategic plan that has been existence for five years and... and... oh yes. Basically, Ben Nicholson ran the place (like he has for the past two years).

[Rilla]

Quoting LK Today from 09:43, 9th Mar 2007
One small victory can be claimed of this election however - Anna Lo (AP) in South Belfast. Northern Ireland's first ethnic minority in office, at any level of government, and I am told the frst Chinese woman to hold office in the UK. Go Anna!

I agree Lee- I was delighted when I read about Anna - Northern Ireland has a reputation (whether deservedly or not) for being quite an insular, racist place- I've heard of many attacks on Chinese, and lately, Polish and Latvian people. (bloody taigs - referring to the Poles).

Perhaps this is not deserved, and I only read biased news -ANYWAY,
I think it's great that Anna Lo was elected, and I hope that a power-sharing executive will be established by the end of this month.

(although, I have to admit, I have been "taught" or whatever is the right word - to hate Paisley. He, and everything he stands for, sickens me. I shudder at the thought of him being First Minister - I would be ashamed of having such a racist, homophobic man representing me. But again, I am not unbiased.)

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Be good to yourself because nobody else has the power to make you happy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4075166.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4572507.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5117722.stm

[Fawksie]

Quoting from 02:46, 9th Mar 2007
What exactly did he do? Put his name to a strategic plan that has been existence for five years and... and... oh yes. Basically, Ben Nicholson ran the place (like he has for the past two years).

Say that again and put your own name to it. If you're going to bitch, don't do it anonymously. I don't understand where people are coming up with the idea that this plan has been in existence for five years. Did Tom find it in a dusty drawer of his desk where Alex Yabroff left it or something? There have, as we well know, been drafts of a strategic plan written several times before, but all of them were abandoned. This is not one of them.