At what stage did SF decide to put country or even its people before party? The issue for SDLP is to decide who it represents and what they want that gives the party a distinctive characteristic which sets it apart from others. Good article in Saturday's Irish News by Patrick Murphy in which he describes 3 options for SDLP. They can slowly die, rebrand or merge and in two these they disappear. However, in these two they leave a significant number of the electorate, both voting and non-voting supporters, without representation.