Process under way to replace McClarty

Speaking during his whistlestop tour of Londonderry on Thursday, Tom Elliott refused to be drawn into conversation about the process that is underway to find a replacement for McClarty.

It emerged recently that East Londonderry MLA and Stormont Deputy Speaker David McClarty had been deselected by the UUP, and the Party had chosen former Westminster candidate Lesley Macauley and the Coleraine councillor David Harding to fight the Assembly election next May.

Alluding to the fact that McClarty is 'down but not out', the UUP leader said: "We have a process for selecting our candidates and that process is underway, and all the candidates will be endorsed at some stage hopefully within the next six weeks, and until that process is finalised nobody is ejected from anything."

Aksed if he had any personal feelings about the issue, Mr Elliott said: "It is a process within the Party so I am not giving any personal feelings on it at all. It is a process that we will deal with within our rules."

Mr McClarty, who has been an MLA since 1998, said he was "devastated" by the decision of the East Londonderry election committee.

The UUP said the decision has to be ratified by its Executive Committee.

The East Londonderry election committee is made up of representatives from the local constituency association and the central party election committee.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Ulster Unionist Party said: "Firstly, and most importantly, the selection process is not complete. Nominations were sent for consideration to the East Londonderry Elections Committee, which includes representatives from the local association and the central Party Election Committee.

"However, before the process can be considered complete, the nominations which were then put forward by that committee must be approved by the Executive Committee."

Ulster Unionist Party East Londonderry Constituency Chairman, Norman Hillis, responded to speculation surrounding the outcome of the recent selection meeting, saying: "Despite continued media speculation I must emphasise that the selection process for East Londonderry UUP candidates is not complete. On that basis no further comment will be made at this time."

One newspaper has reported that the votes may have been miscalculated and suggested that former Coleraine Mayor Mr McClarty had, in fact, topped the first round of voting.

Indeed, Mr McClarty 'tweeted' his own feelings about the subject last Tuesday on Twitter: "Very confused by the result as I was the clear lead in the early stages of the selection and I am the sitting MLA."

And later he 'tweeted' the comment: "Not surprised to discover there has been a numerical error in the candidate selection process! Hopefully will be resolved asap."