Second strike and UUP is out

Second strike and UUP is out

28 May 2014

LIGHTNING does strike twice and it struck the Ulster Unionists twice in Newry. Less than 24 hours after Walter Lyons was pipped at the post in Rowallane, his party colleague Dessie Patterson was unseated after a marathon count in Slieve Croob. 

On both occasions the unionists looked odds on to win and on both occasions they were hauled back by Alliance.

Patterson, who was co-opted on to Down Council in 2005 to replace Gerry Douglas, is a highly respected politician and farmer who has built up a successful tourist business at his Trassey Road farm. He is passionate about the Mournes and has served for several years as chairman of the Mournes Heritage Trust.

Going into the election it was thought there was just one unionist seat in Slieve Croob, a brand new electoral area which was hard to predict. However, early on Friday morning the tallies from the various parties reported problems within the SDLP and it quickly became clear there was every likelihood that Patterson and the DUP’s Garth Craig could be elected.

Craig polled over 1,000 votes ensuring his success while Patterson notched up 718, well ahead of two of the SDLP candidates and narrowly in front of Clarke. At this stage it was thought Patterson would receive a large number of transfers from UKIP’s Alan Lewis and NI21’s Matthew Morrison taking him clear of the SDLP and Clarke.

Everything appeared to be going according to plan and by the end of the fourth stage Patterson was 161 ahead.

Both unionist parties knew they needed both Craig and Patterson to win to secure the vital nine seats needed to trigger a blocking mechanism in the new council designed to protect minority communities from controversial decisions being imposed on them.

But as the stages progressed Clarke’s vote began to mount. When the SDLP’s Shane King was excluded he received 33 transfers and when another SDLP candidate, Audrey Byrne, was also excluded he received a whopping 164 votes.

Suddenly Clarke was ahead by 16 and when the surplus votes of Mark Murnin were counted he had an unassailable lead of 101 and victory.

It was a devastating way to lose and there was sympathy across the board for Patterson who has won much praise for his common sense and pragmatism.

There was criticism from Unionists immediately afterwards who claimed that 80 UKIP voters failed to transfer their vote to any of the other unionist candidates prompting the DUP’s Billy Walker to warn: “Those in Clough who failed to transfer their vote can’t complain when Irish language street signs are being nailed to their walls.”

UKIP candidate, Alan Lewis, later rejected the claim saying only 31 candidates failed to transfer their votes. However, official statistics show that a total of 72 UKIP voters either didn’t fill in a second preference or gave their preference to non Unionist candidates.

Away from the drama, the performance of the Sinn Fein candidates was perfect and justified the party’s decision to run just two candidates when some speculated there may have been scope for a third candidate.

Castlewellan’s Stephen Burns topped the poll with a huge 1,303 votes and was elected on the first count and Pol O Gribin, who had been a sitting councillor in Banbridge, pulled in 940 votes to get elected on count six

With Patterson gone, the sole unionist councillor for the area is Garth Craig. The DUP politician from Ballynahinch, polled 1,021 and was elected on the fourth count.

The SDLP is facing a serious internal inquest after a strange campaign which led one former councillor to suggest dirty tricks. The party put forward three candidates, Mark Murnin, who was elected, Shane King and Audrey Byrne.

Peter Fitzpatrick, who was an SDLP councillor in Kilcoo, claimed the other candidates encroached into the area marked out for Shane King. He produced election leaflets for Mark Murnin which had been delivered in Dundrum where King was the declared SDLP candidate and whose posters were still attached to lamp posts on Monday evening. He also claimed Audrey Byrne had been canvassing in the Maghera area, another area which had been set aside for King.

Fitzpatrick claimed this sowed confusion within the electorate and accounted for King’s lower than expected poll of just 418.

An SDLP source said the late inclusion of Byrne into the race meant the candidates’ areas had to be redrawn which led to different leaflet s and canvassing areas and he dismissed the dirty tricks claims.

Nevertheless there is no doubt the SDLP under performed in Slieve Croob either in the management of the campaign or the performance of the candidates.

The SDLP was once all powerful in the greater Castlewellan area but there is no doubt Burns is now the major political figure in the area for Sinn Fein. And with another young politician in Pol O Gribin also comfortably elected it will be very difficult for the SDLP to turn back the tide.