Why won't NI Catholics/Nationalists vote Alliance?

[Applesisapples]

Well, I for one always give lower preference votes to Alliance candidates in PR elections,if only to try to keep unionists out!

I see at their conference yesterday they're trying to shift the focus on to a united community in a N.Ireland with a place for everyone,in a blatant attempt to fudge the party's constitutional preference or that of its members.

Where Alliance's argument collapses big time,is the anomaly championing anti sectarianism while not simultaneously and proactively campaigning for the demise of a statelet constructed on a gerrymandered sectarian base which leads inevitably to tribal sectarianism.

There is a lot of truth in what you are saying Tony. However the De Facto position of all the main parties in this little corner of Ireland is that NI will remain part of the UK until a majority say otherwise. It would be interesting to be still around when that happens, just to see what the Unionists do. Part of me though can't help thinking that perhaps before we reunite Ireland we need to UNITE the people in these 6 Counties.

[babarino]

Or put a different way, why doesn't the Alliance Party just disband and advise all its members to join SF or the SDLP? 

The SDLP should be actively trying to advance nationalism, as distinct from being neutral on the issue, but for all they actually do there isn't much difference between themselves and Alliance. SF are equally useless at actually doing anything to advance nationalism, but they support some things that happened in the troubles that might make them a less suitable fit for Alliance voters.

Easy to blame SF and the SDLP for not actively advancing nationalism... if it wasn't so evident that there's no visible hunger for it from the general public.

As for Alliance, there are plenty of Nationalists voting for them in certain eastern constituencies. Who else does a Catholic / nationalist vote for in East Belfast or North Down?
Anna Lo is a good candidate for the European elections and i'd be quite happy to see her elected. She's probably one of the most progressive and liberal politicians in the Assembly, so she ticks a lot of boxes for me, especially in an election where voting Nationalist / Unionist isn't really that important. She's highly unlikely to be elected however, and I think her recent comments will lose her more votes than she will gain from it all - most of the people who were impressed by what she said will continue to vote SF or SDLP, so it's hard to see her logic.

Maybe she's a politician that expresses her opinion regardless of elections. It might be hard to fathom, but fair dues to Anna Lo. David Ford deserves kudos for sticking up for her, but her scandalised party colleagues reflect better the Alliance mindset.

The Alliance party political broadcast on TV recently portrayed themselves as descendants of the suffragettes. It was a wee bit silly; most of their members are middle class, middle of the roadies, who you'd never imagine engaging in direct action.