With the leader of the main Unionist party applauding speeches calling the GFA 'iniquitous' and 'deceit' are the upcoming elections a test for the seminal agreement?
It's hard to know what will happen if the DUP manage to get their vote out and maintain the majority vote.
Be most worried,over a generation out from.the GFA,
unionists refuse to gaurantee to support a nationlist in what is essentially a meaningless ceromonial role
This utd ireland is coming,they seriously need to get act together with forward thinking leaders for negociations
It's nigh on impossible to find a bigger identity parade of gob shites than a leaders debate in Ireland but, fair play to the Nordies, they managed it.
poor mr hume would be turning in his grave
Col-a-col-a Colum The Chameleon.
like others he'll pretend he is all things to all humankind when it suits him as has been embarrassingly pointed out to him.
The bloke gave most of the last year attending utd ireland conferences (before lately rubbishing it as a concept),while presumably aware all interested parties from all sides had been approached to participate
Looks to me,he has qs to answer as regards his sudden rethoric around this
Election eve and no political analysts confident in calling the outcome. Still think the scare tactics will work for another election cycle, probably the last one.
It does seem hard to call insofar as it remains to be seen if the DUP actually loses the kind of ground that commentary would suggest they have, or if the old Stop Sinn Fein mantra will win out. A big factor in that, to me anyway, rests on whether any electoral defection from the DUP goes towards the extremes of the DUP or towards Alliance (or UUP). You'd imagine that votes going to the TUV will invariably funnel second pref votes etc to the DUP but for those who go Alliance it might not be as clear cut.
I read a few days back that North Down, with its large proportion of moderate liberal Unionists, has the worst turnout percentage of all the constituencies (Ferm / Sth Tyrone being highest). So there's a possible indication there that moderate Unionists from across NI -- many of them young people working in Great Britain or attending universities there -- will demonstrate their apathy towards the current Unionist offering by just not bothering to vote. That's better for the Unionists than seeing them taken into the arms of the Let's-All-Just-Hold-Hands-And-Go-With-The-Flow Party (aka Alliance) where feelings toward the border poll bogeyman are a little less Never Never Never and a little more Maybe Maybe Maybe.
SF are going to have a very strong election and if this one doesn't bring out a strong nationalist showing in general, then nationalism has a lot of soul searching to do as regards the vision it's setting out. But the future of Unionism is the big story here and i genuinely think this election is the barometer for where Unionism is going for the next 10 years. A strong showing for the DUP will suggest that very little is going to change for a time to come in the northern political stalemate, while a flow towards the even more extreme edge of Unionism will be very concerning indeed. Conversely, a Unionist defection towards the UUP or Alliance might suggest a new era of less intransigent Unionism is dawning and renewed efforts of moving the North forward can accelerate.
If the future for NI is Unionism taking the ball home because they no longer have a majority, maybe the two governments will finally face the fact that partition is and always will be a failure. And hopefully the people will too and look for better.
NI has exceptionally poor polling data - local firms with poor methodology, "Shy" everyone etc so there's nothing much for anyone to work from.
Tbf lucidtalk is among best of the polling groups about...usually call to well within margin of error on last election and brexit poll
Be along way ahead of likes of red c
It is deeply satisfying to watch and see which of the two main sectarian parties suffers the bigger decline leaving the "winner" with a pyrrhic victory of FM.
Will the British shafting Unionists on the eve of an election (bizarre turn of events tbh) bolster or harm the DUP?
On his way in to vote in the Assembly elections, Jeffrey Donaldson proudly waves his EU passport (not blue Union one) to no doubt show his support for the EU and the protocol.
Video here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f3aVhqdk15QRJWYvJSvauvurRhKUAYPP/view?usp=drivesdk
This bit of nudge wink needed an all caps headline?
This thread is in 'SOCIAL& FUN' (caps not mine). Y'know, FUN. Take a 🧊 💊.
About as much as your stupid reply
Who?
Which didn't include allcaps..
Its a British passport issued before Brexit. It means nothing.
Is it a secret ballot? If it is we'd never know how they voted; if it isn't well I guess we'll see in short order place your bets.
It does to a Brexiteer.
Threads merged
The bookies have Sinn Fein 1/16, DUP 8/1, and Alliance 33/1 to get the most seats.
Sinn Fein will lose seats.
Even though the people had spoken it was incredible to hear all Unionist parties refuse to say whether they would accept the wishes of the electorate on the View last night. Whose pundits chosen from across NI's media seemed to plump for an emphatic win for pro-protocol parties.
Looks like there has been a massive surge for the TUV at the expense of the DUP.
Sinn Féin almost certain to be the largest party you'd have to think.
Lending votes to the Alliance too… last counts are going to be fascinating.
Bad news for the SDLP, collapse at the expense of Sinn Fein and Alliance to a smaller extent.
Given the government sent up people to canvass for the sdlp,that is terrible outcome
Be interesting see how the tuv pan out transferwise,they were projected at 63% to give no2 to the dup....if they can swallow up significant transfers,it could get vv.interesting
Given the government sent up people to canvass for the SDLP, its not an unexpected outcome
The SDLP-FF axis was not a good move for either party
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