TUV not standing

In a statement to the 'MAIL' the party said it would only fight eight 'safe' unionist seats and two 'safe' nationalist.

In the statement the party urged its followers not to support the DUP following its u-turn on pledges it made in the 2005 election and recent sleaze allegations.

The statement said: "TUV has decided that Upper Bann is a marginal seat in a first past the post election if there were three unionist candidates.

"Therefore, TUV will not run a candidate in this constituency.

"However, we do intend to give the electorate a choice to vote for our party in next year’s council and Assembly elections which are fought under proportional representation."

It continued: "Furthermore, TUV have decided not to support the DUP candidate in this election due to broken promises.”

The statement added: "On the other hand we do not support all the policies of the UUP/Conservatives or endorse the personal candidacy of Harry Hamilton.

"However, the UUP did not vote for the transfer of Policing and Justice powers to the Executive in which Sinn Fein/IRA has a veto whereas the DUP did.

"We believe that a strong message must be sent to the DUP at this election that unionists do not support sleaze or those who go back on election pledges."

Concluding, the statement said: "We realise that not all TUV voters will be able to vote UUP at this election and some may prefer to abstain. We respect that decision. However we can assure our supporters that in next year’s Assembly election under the proportional representation system we will have TUV candidates throughout the 18 constituencies, including Upper Bann.”