six county elections 05/05/2011

[Nally Stand]

It is also perfectly credible to believe that the SDLP are more effective nationalists than the rather crass carry on of Sinn Féin, who are not typical of the Irish people generally.

That must explain why the "SDLPoo" (to quote Margaret Ritchie) are such a major political force across Ireland in this part of Ireland

[glens abu]

What a great election for Sinn Fein,the bandwagon keeps rolling on and all the hard work is paying off.I think the transfer of the IRSP and Eirigi candidates votes helping to elect SDLP candidates in Belfast  speaks volumes. Good luck to all elected and lets hope they all work to improve the lives of their constituents

[Ulick]

Looks like SF and the SDLP are going to outnumber the combined unionist parties in Belfast City Council for the first time. Alliance will still hold the balance of power though. But for the outdated boundaries they'd probably have an outright majority.

[Ulick]

Looks like SF and the SDLP are going to outnumber the combined unionist parties in Belfast City Council for the first time. Alliance will still hold the balance of power though. But for the outdated boundaries they'd probably have an outright majority.

Time to take it down from the mast:

[Evil Genius]

Looks like SF and the SDLP are going to outnumber the combined unionist parties in Belfast City Council for the first time. Alliance will still hold the balance of power though. But for the outdated boundaries they'd probably have an outright majority.

Speaking of whom (Alliance), any chance of seeing your evidence that a "disproportionate" number of Alliance voters transfer to Nationalist candidates, rather than Unionist ones (post #517, earlier)?

And whilst on the subject, have you any response to my post #518?

[armaghniac]

Speaking of whom (Alliance), any chance of seeing your evidence that a "disproportionate" number of Alliance voters transfer to Nationalist candidates, rather than Unionist ones (

Just look at the transfer of Anna Lo's surplus in South Belfast.

[Evil Genius]

Speaking of whom (Alliance), any chance of seeing your evidence that a "disproportionate" number of Alliance voters transfer to Nationalist candidates, rather than Unionist ones (

Just look at the transfer of Anna Lo's surplus in South Belfast.

One candidate?

Btw, mine was a genuine (i.e. non-contentious) question for Donagh Ulick

[Maguire01]

It is also perfectly credible to believe that the SDLP are more effective nationalists than the rather crass carry on of Sinn Féin, who are not typical of the Irish people generally. Softly softly catchee monkey and all that.

One of the notable things about the recent election count were media interviews by Marty and Jeffrey Donaldson that could have been taken from John Hume's speeches, with talk of "working together for the shared future of our people". I am not sure that the modern SDLP has people quite of the calibre of Hume and Mallon, who did a real service to the people of Ireland.

but for the tactical voting of unionists around markethill mallon wouldnt have lasted near as long as he did i'm open to hear what his great achievements were i cant think of one

Surely his central role in the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement would be regarded as a significant achievement and contribution?

Mallon and Hume would be closer to SF's position on the constitutional issues than they would be to the current unionist lite policies endorsed by Richie

I think that SF's position on such issues has shifted more than the SDLP's... and indeed in many ways closer to the SDLP's.

The Good Friday Agreement was the constiutional position of Hume and Mallon - I don't see the SDLP having moved too far from that.

[Maguire01]

I think the transfer of the IRSP and Eirigi candidates votes helping to elect SDLP candidates in Belfast  speaks volumes.

The SDLP's candidate in Upper Falls was only 69 first preferences short of the quota and was pushed over the line with transfers from the second SDLP candidate (and probably some votes from the Alliance Candidate and DUP candidates eliminated at the same time). But the SDLP had more than a full quota in Upper Falls. And all seats were filled before the Éirígí votes could be transferred.

Éirígí's transfers in Lower Falls were 244.6 to Sinn Féin and only 112 to the SDLP, however the transfers to SF were split across a number of their candidates. But the SDLP candidate ended 137.85 votes ahead of the defeated SF candidate and as such, didn't actually need those 112 transfers.

So basically, the transfers from the Éirígí candidates did not help elect the SDLP at all.

[Maguire01]

It is also perfectly credible to believe that the SDLP are more effective nationalists than the rather crass carry on of Sinn Féin, who are not typical of the Irish people generally.

That must explain why the "SDLPoo" (to quote Margaret Ritchie) are such a major political force across Ireland in this part of Ireland

Fianna Fail were a major political force across Ireland for generations. Whether they were effective or not is another argument.
Size and quality don't necessarily equate.

[Maguire01]

Looks like SF and the SDLP are going to outnumber the combined unionist parties in Belfast City Council for the first time. Alliance will still hold the balance of power though. But for the outdated boundaries they'd probably have an outright majority.

Not challenging you here, but in what way are the boundaries outdated? What changes do you think there should be and under what criteria? And where would you see additional nationalist seats in the city?

[tyrone86]

Looks like SF and the SDLP are going to outnumber the combined unionist parties in Belfast City Council for the first time. Alliance will still hold the balance of power though. But for the outdated boundaries they'd probably have an outright majority.

Not challenging you here, but in what way are the boundaries outdated? What changes do you think there should be and under what criteria? And where would you see additional nationalist seats in the city?

For a start there was 13.5k eligible voters in Court for 5 (unionist) council seats while in Upper and Lower Falls (also 5 seaters but all Nationalist) you had 17.25k and 20.5k eligible to vote. In Pottinger, you had 20k voters for 6 seats - 4 unionist 1 All and 1 SF - There's certainly a disparity somewhere. 

[Ulick]

Tyrone got in before me. You can see the results here:
http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/elections/index.asp

Court: Eligible electorate: 13455: 5 unionists elected
Lower Falls: Eligible electorate:17,238 : 5 nats elected
Upper Falls: Eligible electorate: 20,530: 5 nats elected
Victoria: Eligible electorate: 25,814: 6 unionists & 1 alliance elected
Castle: Eligible electorate: 19,494: 3 unionist & 3 nats elected

So you can see it takes less votes to get a unionist elected than a nationalist or another way of looking at it a nationalist vote is worth less than a unionist vote.

[Ulick]

The proposed reform of local government was supposed to address these issues but the DUP (Poots) got cold feet when they saw the stats and realised that the proposed inclusion of Dunmurry into the city would hand nationalists an absolute majority in one fell swoop. The best option from their point of view was to long-finger it as much as possible and hope it would go away. Inevitably though, the city will have nationalist majority representation, whether Dunmurry is included or not.

[Aoise]

The proposed reform of local government was supposed to address these issues but the DUP (Poots) got cold feet when they saw the stats and realised that the proposed inclusion of Dunmurry into the city would hand nationalists an absolute majority in one fell swoop. The best option from their point of view was to long-finger it as much as possible and hope it would go away. Inevitably though, the city will have nationalist majority representation, whether Dunmurry is included or not.

You know I was wondering about this the whole way home tonight.  Looking at the overall figures throughout the 6 counties, the Unionists have far more seats than what would be proportionate to the numbers voting.  I think overall, SF only got 20000 less votes (correct me if I'm wrong) than the DUP, yet they have almost 40 less seats - doesn't figure in any maths I was taught.  The only explanation for it is that the boundaries are still severely messed up.  This definitely needs addressing!!!