Sinn Fein's candidate sails home on night of drama at Titanic Centre

18 December 2019

THE re-election of Chris Hazzard largely went under the radar at last week’s election count in Belfast.

Originally due to take place in Magherafelt, the South Down count was switched to the Titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast in the shadow of the iconic Harland and Wolff shipyard and its imposing Sampson and Goliath cranes which dominate the city skyline.

The mainstream media effectively ignored the South Down contest in the run-up to last week’s election and, during the counting of votes across six constituencies in the huge Titanic centre, it was more of the same.

Predictably, the media focus was on the North and South Belfast seats where DUP heavyweights Nigel Dodds and Emma Little-Pengelly lost out to Sinn Fein’s John Finucane and the SDLP’s Claire Hanna respectively.

Television cameras were focused on the reaction of the winners and losers in the Belfast constituencies and the arrival of DUP leader Arlene Foster — on what was a particularly difficult night for her party — and Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald and the republican party’s northern leader Michelle O’Neill.

Mr Hazzard, who made history two years ago when he broke the SDLP’s 30-year stranglehold on the South Down seat, was officially declared the winner shortly before 3.30am, but his acceptance speech was brief. As was that of SDLP runner-up Michael Savage.

They were the only two South Down candidates who made their way to the podium to thank those who voted for them on a night when Northern Ireland’s political environment changed significantly.

With voters across the province electing a majority of nationalist MPs for the first time, it truly was a night of edge-of-the-seat political drama. It’s often said that first it’s news then its history, but at the Belfast county centre news and history were inextricably intertwined.

Minutes after the South Down result had been declared, the glare of the media spotlight was on official confirmation that the DUP had lost South Belfast.

As SDLP supporters and the party faithful cheered loudly for Claire Hanna, the Sinn Fein contingent took a moment out of celebrating Mr Hazzard’s victory to watch proceedings.

Hazzard was always the favourite for the South Down seat and used a sporting analogy to explain how he felt about the contest. He said favourites don’t always win, pointing out how hard he worked on the ground, emphasising that the was never complacent about the challenge he faced from the SDLP.

From early in the count, SDLP members said that it looked as though their man was in with a real fighting chance and from the boxes which had been opened, the duo were neck and neck.

While some of the Sinn Fein contingent appeared to be sporting furrowed brows early into the counting process, they were always confident that their man would emerge victorious and that he did, albeit with a reduced majority.

There were suggestions that unionist voters in the Crossgar area had backed Mr Savage, who was clear throughout his campaign that he would not only be an MP for all, but one who would take his seat in the House of Commons.

And while it was reported close between him and Mr Hazzard at one stage, the Sinn Fein man eased ahead in the race to cross the winning line, with the SDLP man left wondering what might have been.

He had been given a relatively short lead-in time to last week’s parliamentary pole and while pleased with his performance, he clearly felt he could have done even better and pushed the Sinn Fein man all the way to the line.

Elsewhere, Alliance’s Patrick Brown was one of a number of his party’s candidates who built on their recent success at the EU and local council elections.

The Westminster poll was viewed as a key litmus test that would rigorously challenge Alliance’s recent election surge in a first past the post electoral system which did not rely on the votes of other parties.

Mr Brown, who in May trebled his Newry, Mourne and Down Council vote in Rowallane, was at it again. His election agent and fellow councillor, Andrew McMurray, stood for Alliance in 2017 and polled 1,814 votes, but Brown more than trebled the Alliance vote, a performance which helped his party leapfrog the Ulster Unionists to become the third largest in the province. Overall, Alliance’s vote in South Down increased by an impressive 10.3 per cent, marking a remarkable performance by Brown.

Most significantly, Alliance now has its eyes focused firmly on securing an Assembly seat and while Mr Brown refused to be drawn on whether he would like his name to go forward should such a contest arise, there is no doubt that he will be the party’s preferred candidate. He left the count centre a happy man; his stock within his party continues to rise.

Elsewhere, the DUP’s Glyn Hanna was pleased with his performance, despite his vote decreasing, and he didn’t rule out being the party’s flag bearer in a future Assembly election if this week’s talks at Stormont fail to restore the power-sharing executive.

Ulster Unionist, Jill Macauley, defied pundits suggestions that her party would not do well in South Down, by increasing the UUP vote by almost three per cent.

Province-wide, the UUP polled 93,000 votes but with a new leader in charge the party did not produce the performance it had been hoping for. However, Mrs Macauley provided it with a glimmer of hope with her performance

Aontú — which was contesting its first election — polled 1,266 votes but party candidate, Paul Brady, wasn’t at the count centre in Belfast where party leader Peader Tobin did call late on Thursday evening.

As the last of the media interviews were conducted, television and radio sound engineers were doing their best to drown out the clatter of chairs being piled on top of one another and folding tables used by counting staff collapsed to be packed away.

The last of the candidates, party supporters, election staff and the media started to drift away from the Titanic Exhibition Centre around 4.30am, following another night of high drama which significantly reshaped the province’s political landscape.

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