Unionists' voting ploy'plays part'

UNIONIST tactical voting again appears to have played a part as the SDLP maintained a 4,000 vote lead on Sinn Fein in the Foyle constituency.

In an election where the percentage turnout was just 58%, former SDLP leader Mark Durkan fought off the challenge of Martina Anderson, winning by a margin of 4,181 votes.

Sinn Fein had hoped to close the gap further, and as the result was declared, some supporters tried to taunt Mr Durkan that he had won because of unionist backing, almost as if unionist votes were somehow less worthy of winning.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Unionist representatives at the count – which was disrupted by dissident republicans who hijacked a taxi and forced the driver to deliver a device to the car park at Templemore sports complex, where the count was held – felt that a significant slice of the electorate who would normally vote DUP or UUP, had ‘loaned’ their vote to Mr Durkan to ensure Sinn Fein would not snatch the seat.

The size of the winning margin will have disappointed the republican party, whose candidate had mounted a very high profile campaign.

With a total of 38,191 casting their votes, Mr Durkan’s share of the poll dropped by 2.3% since the 2005 Westminster election – partly due to the transfer of the Claudy and Banagher area to the East Londonderry constituency. According to SDLP colleagues at the count centre, this effectively meant that Mr Durkan had lost around 1,500 votes even before polling started.

The count itself was dominated at the outset by the security alert, but the democratic process continued despite the best efforts of the terrorists.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Durkan said the count had been disrupted "by those who seek to undermine the democratic process" and that those responsible "put forward no message and sought no mandate in the election".

Ms Anderson vowed that she would return to fight another day, claiming: “Someday I will be in that seat.”

The DUP's Maurice Devenney finished third with 4,489 votes.

He was selected as the candidate to replace the current Assembly speaker, William Hay, who contested previous Westminster elections but stood down this time around.

Mr Devenney said the loss of Banagher and Claudy had also affected the DUP, and added that there was little doubt that many unionists had used their vote to make sure Sinn Fein could not take the Foyle seat.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Devenney said: “It seems to be a trend in Westminster elections recently; people who normally vote unionist in other elections suddenly switch to the SDLP. There’s definitely evidence of tactical voting but overall I am happy with my performance, and with the strength of support for the DUP in the Foyle area.

“Once again, we are the largest unionist party in Foyle and we look forward with confidence to future elections.”

The Conservative and Unionist candidate, David Harding, said he was “delighted” at his performance in securing 1,221 votes, a 130 increase on the UUP’s total in the last election. He, too, was looking at this election – with no chance whatsoever of unionists pulling off an upset - as a platform to be built upon, especially with an eye on future Assembly elections.

Eamonn McCann, standing for People Before Profit, polled 2936 votes, while Alliance’s Keith McGrellis trailed in last with just 223 people marking an ‘X’ against his name on the ballot paper.