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All eyes on Sinn Fein

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

As the only party to be running candidates in both jurisdictions, Sinn Fein is aiming to consolidate gains made in the Republic’s 2002 general election and last November’s Assembly elections in the North.
The party, which currently has no European representatives, believes it has a good chance of securing at least two seats. A Northern candidate, the former Stormont health minister Barbara De Brun, is widely tipped to win a seat at the expense of the SDLP. Mark Durkan’s party can no longer rely on the huge personal vote of former leader John Hume and Belfast, lord mayor Martin Morgan will have his work cut out in fending off De Brun.
Such is the prospect of increased Sinn Fein support, the Democratic Unionist Party has made defeating De Brun a core part of its canvassing strategy. DUP candidate Jim Allister has warned Unionist voters that a split Unionist vote would give De Brun a good chance of topping the poll. The SDLP has, meanwhile, denied that its vote will collapse and is relying on Morgan’s youthful profile to counter Sinn Fein.
Sinn Fein’s best chance of a seat south of the border lies with Dublin candidate Mary Lou McDonald. McDonald, a Fianna Fail defector, is thought of as the party’s most middle-class candidate and is hoping to win significant support from the denizens of leafy South Dublin.
The Dublin constituency is the most colorful of the southern regions. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s prot

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