DUP to endorse Wells for poll

DUP to endorse Wells for poll

17 February 2016

THE DUP is expected to confirm later this week that Jim Wells will be its candidate for South Down in the Assembly elections in May.

The veteran politician, who was selected by the party’s South Down constituency association several weeks ago, has been forced to wait while senior party officials decide if they will endorse his nomination.

It is believed the party now accepts that Wells will represent the DUP at the South Down polls.

There has been considerable internal party fall out since Wells’ highly publicised but misinterpreted remarks on same sex marriage at a Westminster hustings event in Downpatrick last April.

Even though the MLA lost his prized job as Health Minister, there are a number of senior DUP figures who would like to see him out of the Assembly in favour of a younger figure who is much less outspoken.

But there is a general acceptance within the DUP that Wells is a firm favourite to take one of the six South Down seats and that his controversial stance on gay marriage have done him no harm within the conservative voters who regularly vote for him.

The DUP hierarchy is uneasy about refusing to accept Wells’ nomination which could force him to run as an independent unionist against the party’s preferred candidate. 

There has been a groundswell of support within South Down for Wells since last April and this support could be enough to get him elected as an 

independent or could lead to the splitting of the DUP vote and the election of another unionist, such as the TUV’s Henry Reilly.

The Recorder understands that if Wells is re-elected he will become the longest serving Assemblyman at Stormont and will assume the elder statesman’s roll and become known as the ‘father of the house.’

In a development linked to the hustings row the police have charged a 48 year-old woman from Dungannon in connection with a allegation she made to police after the hustings event. She is expected to appear at Downpatrick Court towards the end of March.