Rhetoric turns passionate as election nears

Another is the fact that all the three main pro-agreement parties have concentrated their political fire on the Rev. Ian Paisley’s DUP during the first real week of election campaigning before the Assembly poll on Nov. 26.
In return, the DUP has been focusing their fire on the Ulster Unionists, accusing them of a dismal record on negotiations and predicting they will outstrip them when the results are counted.
The election has yet to ignite much public interest, leading some observers to fear that Northern Ireland is sleepwalking itself into an even greater crisis, should the DUP’s predictions come true.
Although it’s impossible to say for certain, the impression so far is that the DUP are far more confident than the UUP of winning the internal battle within unionism. In addition, some of the UUP’s own candidates appear hostile to the agreement.
With proportional representation in 18 six-seat constituencies, small numbers of votes could radically influence the final outcome. Also unknown is the percentage of voters who will bother to turn out. And 200,000 electors are not registered to vote because of new rules.
Last week, the UUP published a charter for restoring devolution and the power-sharing Executive, leading some to say there remained little policy difference with their DUP rivals.
Alex Attwood, the SDLP candidate for West Belfast, for example, commenting on the UUP charter, said, “David Trimble seems to think that buttering up Jeffrey Donaldson is more important than addressing the concerns of ordinary people.”
“Earlier this week, the SDLP made it clear to the Paisleyites there would be no renegotiation of the agreement. David Trimble needs to know that positioning himself as ‘DUP-lite’ and promising to wreck inclusive government is going to get him nowhere.”
The UUP’s own charge against the DUP is being led by the senior Ulster Unionist Michael McGimpsey, who, it appears, is becoming the favored lieutenant of party leader Trimble.
The DUP, said McGimpsey, “hasn’t got a consistent message between them and they haven’t a clue where they are going. Their battle bus would be better off staying in the car park.
“It is nice to see, however, that they have ditched their traditional form of transport — the piggyback. After years of sneaking in the back door, people realize what they are up to. . . . The DUP is the party of hopelessness, scare and smear, the party which, when offered the choice between the motorway or the cul-de-sac invariably goes for the dead end.”
McGimpsey’s robust attack was echoed by the SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, who said the gains brought by the Good Friday agreement are at risk. “Anti-agreement forces are determined to reverse the verdict of the people,” he said.
“The vanguard of the ‘no’ men is formed by the DUP. What the DUP cannot stand about the SDLP is that we make things clear.
“We will not turn the clock back. Instead we will demand the other parties step up to the SDLP standard — and implement the agreement in full — no ifs, no buts.”
The Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, told a republican commemoration in South Armagh at the weekend: “There cannot and will not be any renegotiation of the Good Friday agreement. There can be no new agreement.
“The DUP like all the other parties in the election has to face up to the reality that not only is the agreement an international treaty between two governments that cannot be renegotiated, but if they want a devolved administration, the price they have to pay is it be in an all-Ireland infrastructure.”
Leading Ulster Unionist hardliner Jeffrey Donaldson has called on unionist voters to vote only for candidates “they can trust,” and not specifically for the UUP.
(Jack Holland contributed to this story.)