The SDLP to elect successor to Margaret Richie

Wolfe Tone

A new leader of the SDLP will be elected at the party's annual conference in Belfast today.

The SDLP will elect a new leader at the party's annual conference in Belfast this afternoon.

Four candidates are seeking to fill position left vacant by the decision of Margaret Ritchie to stand down and concentrate on her role as South Down MP in Westminster.

Three of those contesting the leadership are based in Belfast.

They include Alasdair Mc Donnell, who is an Assembly member and MP for South Belfast.

Alex Attwood who's currently the party's only minister in the Northern Ireland executive and an Assembly member for West Belfast is also contesting the leadership.

The youngest contender is 39 year old Conal Mc Devitt, who's an Assembly member for South Belfast.

The fourth candidate, Patsy Mc Glone, is the party's current Deputy Leader and represents Mid Ulster in the Stormont Assembly.

A result is expected by 6 o'clock this evening.

So, who will win, and who do you want to win? After Margaret Richie I think any of them would be an improvement.

cardwizzard

I don't know who will win is the short answer. Is there a favour for Attwood do you think? One thing is for sure, Ritchie ran that them into the rocks.

They need some youth and vitality injected into the party. Someone who can connect with people and can hold your attention for longer than 10 secs.

Didn't Mc Donnell get beat by Ritchie last time around in this? Maybe they might give it to him this time. Whoever does get it has a hell of a job on their hands.

Denerick

Margaret Ritchie was the single most uninspiring, shrill, and incompetant political leader any political party on this island has ever had. I could never understand how the SDLP could embrace genteel decline like that, opting for an atrocious leader.

Rocket_Man

The party chose Ritchie on the basis that she wasn't McDonnell.

Not a good way of picking your party leader imho and in this case turned out to be a disaster.

Having said that I do not think McDonnell is the right man to lead the party either. He is much too polarizing a figure.

I don't know McGlone at all, so can't comment but I think Attwood could be quite good and McDevitt, what what I have seen of him, seems quite a capable fella aswell.

irishh_bob

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

So, who will win, and who do you want to win? After Margaret Richie I think any of them would be an improvement.

unless the invisible man takes over as leader , i dont know how any of them could be less effective

Bottle_of_Smoke

Its make or break for them. If they elect McDevitt they may actually improve the party's status. He's an excellent politician. Was even mentioned in that Wikileaks cable about Margaret Ritchie being wooden and generally useless, as being a "rising star" in the party.

I've heard him run rings around DUP/Sinn Fein representatives on the Stephen Nolan Show many a time. There's no way the likes of Gerry Adams would be able to bully him like he did to Margaret Ritchie during election debates. She really was a god-awful leader.

If they elect any of the others the terminal decline will continue and Alliance/Sinn fein will swallow all their support by the next election.

Son Of A Vidic

Does it really matter who takes over as the new SDLP leader? They have nearly become an irrelevance now.

Bottle_of_Smoke

apparently Alasdair McDonnell won it. McDevitt came second.