The Six counties European Election Thread/Poll

[Maguire01]

Disappointing that Maginness didn't manage to get the third seat.

Noticeable that Dodds hasn't been taking any of the interviews on BBC or UTV.

[magickingdom]

Roger the vote in nationalist areas dropped more than the vote unionist areas but SF will still top the poll and a fair chance the SDLP will take a seat. Turnout has dropped on both sides but the crucial factor is that those who don't vote don't count. As many Fenians will appear for the next, presumably more important, election as will Prods, so that is irrelevant. What is relevant in the trends of the past 20 years, which say the garden centre Prod doesn't exist and if it does, it doesn't matter anyway.   

They mattered at the last referendum.  Any border referendum I believe they'd be out again.  Now that's just opinion but you can see it has some precendent. I suppose even commenting is now cue for a torrent of abuse, insults and aggro from some quarters.  Oh well.

Btw, I don't think SDLP will get the third seat but this time last week I would have thought they would. One thing for sure is that Monday's results will be an interesting read.   

roger, turnout thursday 42.8% down from 51.2% (2004).... total unionist vote 237,436 (2009) as against 266,925 (04) down 29,489. unionist vote down 11.05%.... total nationalist vote 204,673 (09) as against 232,100 (04) down 27,427 nationalist vote down 11.82%. percent of total vote unionist 49%  (2004 - 48.60%)  nationalist 42.26% (2004 - 42.34%). the drop in the turnout from 2004 is made up equally of unionists/nationalists. also the nationalist vote has for sometime now been in the 42-44% range. the overall point i'm making is the stay at home unionists who didnt come out in 2004 or any year are matched by stay at home nationalists based on any number of elections you want to use because in a large pop sample as big as 1.5m unionists/nationalists are equally motivated/lazy/interested/uninterested

[magickingdom]

What do we draw from unionist support for Allister, protest vote in an election that doesn't matter too much or a real opposition to progress?   

Difficult to know what way to read it. You'd hope it's not the latter, but given what happened to the Ulster Unionists, it could well be history repeating itself.

OK, I'll be honest.  I am normally a UUP voter but I'm not a Tory, I dislike the DUP and think that Jim Allister is a bit of a dinosaur so I went to the ballot box not knowing who to vote for.

I have to say that I have been very impressed with Jim Allister's campaign and he, I think, is infinitely better than Dodds as a politician.  As such, I gave Allister my first preference simply because he, from what I see, has been our best MEP over the last 5 years and deserves to keep his seat.  I would never vote for the TUV in Assembly or Westminster elections but in this instance felt Jim Allister deserved it.

tonto 29% of the pop in the north voted against the good friday agreement in the referendum while the tuv (the only party against it in todays election) got 13.67% of the vote. Jim mcallister won nothing today and there is no route for him to achieve anything except split unionism

[Rossfan]

Steven Agnew     GRN      15,764      3.3%      +2.4%     
Jim Allister    TUV    66,197    13.7%    -    
Bairbre de Brún    SF    126,184    26%    -0.3%    Elected
Diane Dodds    DUP    88,346    18.2%    -13.8%    
Alban Maginness    SDLP    78,489    16.2%    +0.3%    
Jim Nicholson    UCUNF    82,893    17.1%    +0.5%    
Ian James Parsley    AP    26,699    5.5%    -    

28%  of Unionists still want to return to 1922 - 1967

What 

Allister and his supporters have nothing to offer the future ...all they are doing is hankering after a return to the nightmare years of 1922-1967. Does he really think the Nationalist people,the Irish and Brit Governments will wear that kind of blinkered bigoted nonsense?

[Orior]

1) Is Coleraine about to assume the hate centre of owc? They say that that is where Jim Allister's vote was the highest.

2) Nice but pathetic little gesture by Mrs Dodds refusing to shake the hand of Babs de Bruin after the erection election. I guess thats the start of the DUP fight back, to, ahem, "Smash Sinn Fein". The strategy will be to work together but not allow any bodily contact between the two women (oh i've just had a horrible thought... barf... hurl.... bark... hurl... barf... hurl...)

[Gaffer]

What do we draw from unionist support for Allister, protest vote in an election that doesn't matter too much or a real opposition to progress?   

Difficult to know what way to read it. You'd hope it's not the latter, but given what happened to the Ulster Unionists, it could well be history repeating itself.

OK, I'll be honest.  I am normally a UUP voter but I'm not a Tory, I dislike the DUP and think that Jim Allister is a bit of a dinosaur so I went to the ballot box not knowing who to vote for.

I have to say that I have been very impressed with Jim Allister's campaign and he, I think, is infinitely better than Dodds as a politician.  As such, I gave Allister my first preference simply because he, from what I see, has been our best MEP over the last 5 years and deserves to keep his seat.  I would never vote for the TUV in Assembly or Westminster elections but in this instance felt Jim Allister deserved it.

tonto 29% of the pop in the north voted against the good friday agreement in the referendum while the tuv (the only party against it in todays election) got 13.67% of the vote. Jim mcallister won nothing today and there is no route for him to achieve anything except split unionism

Even yesterdays result shows that vast majority of U nionists support Stormont cos they voted Ulster Unionist or DUP. but,  history has shown us , that the small minority of Unionists (13.67% in this case) who are opposed to sharing power with Nationalists rule the roost and will dictate future Unionist policy. Robinson must not do a Trimble. Robinson must take these people head on and make it clear to them that , the will of the majority of Unionists will prevail.

[Mario]

Very enjoyable watching how bitter Diane Dodds is, showed herself up badly not shaking barbaras hand.

I just can't get over the attitude of a large proportion of unionists in northern ireland, the TUV are just another no party, what do their supporters think they are going to achieve by electing them, unionism is stuck in the past, their attitudes are outdated. Do they really think we can have a government without half the population being represented, it really is crazy. I think Jim Allister and the likes just look ridiculous with their no compromise stance, singing god save the queen. I know im looking at this as a nationalist but i think Sinn Fein come across a lot better in the media compared to them other clowns.

[ziggysego]

I noticed that Jim Nicholson shook Barbara's hand. Is this the first time an Ulster Unionist, or whatever they're calling themselves now, has shaken a Sinn Fein's hand in public?

As for the Unionist community going on about the sad day in Ulster and slabber like that like, I have to agree with Mario when he said that Sinn Fein came over better in the media.

Have the DUP now realised they chose the wrong candidate for Europe, as Mrs. Dodds was not seen on television since Sinn Fein topped the polls.

[Tonto]

What do we draw from unionist support for Allister, protest vote in an election that doesn't matter too much or a real opposition to progress?   

Difficult to know what way to read it. You'd hope it's not the latter, but given what happened to the Ulster Unionists, it could well be history repeating itself.

OK, I'll be honest.  I am normally a UUP voter but I'm not a Tory, I dislike the DUP and think that Jim Allister is a bit of a dinosaur so I went to the ballot box not knowing who to vote for.

I have to say that I have been very impressed with Jim Allister's campaign and he, I think, is infinitely better than Dodds as a politician.  As such, I gave Allister my first preference simply because he, from what I see, has been our best MEP over the last 5 years and deserves to keep his seat.  I would never vote for the TUV in Assembly or Westminster elections but in this instance felt Jim Allister deserved it.

tonto 29% of the pop in the north voted against the good friday agreement in the referendum while the tuv (the only party against it in todays election) got 13.67% of the vote. Jim mcallister won nothing today and there is no route for him to achieve anything except split unionism

I know and I am pro-Agreement btw.  I voted for Jim Allister because I thought he was the best man for the job in Brussels (well out of the way!!) but will restate I would "never, never, never" vote for him or his party as 1st preference in an Assembly/Westminster election.  I suppose that's a dilemma I face at the next election depending no whether or not the UUP are still aligned to the Tories or if the DUP are still c*nts. 

Maybe I'll vote for the SDLP... again.

[ziggysego]

According to the BBC, a lot of Green's and Alliance's second preferences went to TUV. A sizeable amount of the TUV's second preference went to the SDLP.

[Trevor Hill]

I know and I am pro-Agreement btw.  I voted for Jim Allister because I thought he was the best man for the job in Brussels (well out of the way!!) but will restate I would "never, never, never" vote for him or his party as 1st preference in an Assembly/Westminster election.  I suppose that's a dilemma I face at the next election depending no whether or not the UUP are still aligned to the Tories or if the DUP are still c*nts. 

Maybe I'll vote for the SDLP... again.

Thats like those who lent their vote to Sinn Fein, most of them are still voting for Sinn Fein.
I didn't really know much about Allister until today, saw him interviewed on the BBC after he was eliminated. He is a horrible little man, if he is the future of Unionism then I think the future is going to be a repeat of the past. It seems than many of our neighbours are content to live in the late 17th century.
What must the outside world think when they see people like that on TV representing NI

[Maguire01]

According to the BBC, a lot of Green's and Alliance's second preferences went to TUV. A sizeable amount of the TUV's second preference went to the SDLP.

Additional votes after second count (with Alliance and Greens eliminated):
SDLP - 16,325
UUP - 11,392
TUV - 4,284
DUP - 2,914

What happened the SF surplus? Is that included in the SDLP's 16,325?

[tyrone86]

What happened the SF surplus? Is that included in the SDLP's 16,325?

Wasn't distributed as far as I know.

[nifan]

Why do you think Allister is the best man for europe tonto?
He is a dinosaur and would take us back to the days where the most notable thing our esteemed leaders did in europe was complain about the union jack being upside down.

[Massey-135]

Listening to Allistar on Radio Ulster this morning. Not a fan of that wee tr**p at all.