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NI election results
Nov. 29th, 2003 01:36 amThe DUP topped the polls. In terms of baby-killing terrorists, the DUP are the guys who have repeatedly said no to any compromise whatsover; Northern Ireland is unchangeably part of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and ever more shall remain. No paramilitaries on either side have seen fit to align with them; indeed, Ian Paisley, he of the collar and the strongest Northern accent in recent history has been portrayed as the greatest recruitment officer the IRA have ever had, but the paras on "his" side have seen fit to not identify with him, prefering the slightly less hardline views of the PUP for their political aims. Sinn Féin (those are the real baby-killing terrorists) looked like picking up second place, but they seem to have slipped at the last minute in favour of the UUP who ultimately took second place with 27 seats. The balance, such as it might be estimated by a rank outsider, is now in favour of those who through their allegiance to the British Crown have never killed babies or caused babies to be killed...
Wait, am I being a bit heavy-handed here?
To be honest, the point I really want to make is that a DUP majority might actually be a good thing for the overall politics in Northern Ireland. The DUP are hugely opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, i.e. they would basically like to turn the clock back ten years and go back to the violence that has characterised daily life in Northern Ireland for somewhat longer than I've been alive. In opposition to this, the UUP (that's David Trimble's party; unionists, but moderate by comparison to the DUP) are in favour of the Agreement, modulo public statements regarding the disarmament of the IRA and so forth; ultimately they may be forced by the election outcome to vote with Sinn Féin in order to subdue the DUP in order to see practical pro-Agreement measures passed. Which means a Unionist party working with a Republican party; ever since the Agreement was signed, it has seemed like an inevitabilty, but perhaps the dominance of the DUP will force some realism on what has, up until now, been to a certain extent a political stage full of posers iterating their party line as opposed to some realistic view of the situation and how to move it away from violence and towards a lasting peace.
If anyone can pull this off, it's Trimble and Adams. I'm backing them both, and history be damned.
Wait, am I being a bit heavy-handed here?
To be honest, the point I really want to make is that a DUP majority might actually be a good thing for the overall politics in Northern Ireland. The DUP are hugely opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, i.e. they would basically like to turn the clock back ten years and go back to the violence that has characterised daily life in Northern Ireland for somewhat longer than I've been alive. In opposition to this, the UUP (that's David Trimble's party; unionists, but moderate by comparison to the DUP) are in favour of the Agreement, modulo public statements regarding the disarmament of the IRA and so forth; ultimately they may be forced by the election outcome to vote with Sinn Féin in order to subdue the DUP in order to see practical pro-Agreement measures passed. Which means a Unionist party working with a Republican party; ever since the Agreement was signed, it has seemed like an inevitabilty, but perhaps the dominance of the DUP will force some realism on what has, up until now, been to a certain extent a political stage full of posers iterating their party line as opposed to some realistic view of the situation and how to move it away from violence and towards a lasting peace.
If anyone can pull this off, it's Trimble and Adams. I'm backing them both, and history be damned.
