Alliance decides on Sinn Fein man's bid to be Mayor
Alliance councillors in Belfast were today due to announce whether they will vote for the city’s first Sinn Fein mayor.
With five days to go before the city council’s vote, the cross community party’s three councillors were due to reveal whether they were going to back Alex Maskey’s bid to become Sinn Fein’s first Belfast Lord Mayor.
Last year Alliance, which holds the balance of power in Belfast City Council, rejected Mr Maskey’s bid for mayor, saying republicans needed to respond to the public’s demand for IRA disarmament.
The IRA have since decommissioned weapons twice.
However, republicans have also been accused in recent months of engaging in paramilitary activity following the arrests of three Irishmen on suspicion of training Marxist rebels in Colombia and allegations of their involvement in the Castlereagh police station break-in.
Alliance’s councillors - David Alderdice, Tom Ekin and Naomi Long - last night finalised their decision at a meeting with party leader David Ford and other senior members.
An Alliance source indicated that whatever decision the party reached about next Wednesday’s vote, the three councillors would ‘‘remain united’’.
‘‘Everybody is of the view that whatever verdict the group reaches must hold,’’ he said.
Speculation has been rife in recent days that Alliance may support Sinn Fein’s bid.
However, some members are understood to have reservations about backing a party which refuses to recognise Northern Ireland’s new police service.
Alliance’s leader on the city council, Mr Alderdice, said last night they had ‘‘consulted widely both within and outside the party.
‘‘I can assure everyone that whatever decision we make, we will be acting in the best interests of all the people of Belfast.’’
Sinn Fein promised yesterday if Mr Maskey was to be elected next Wednesday, he would reach out to the unionist population in an inclusive manner.
The West Belfast MLA, who was the first Sinn Fein member to be elected to the council in 1983, said his party had been ‘‘at the forefront of challenging discrimination and sectarianism from wherever it emanates’’.
‘‘We have had to fight for issues such as the right to be heard in the chamber and the right to chair council committees.
‘‘However, despite Sinn Fein being returned by the electorate twice as the largest party in the city council, various shades of unionism have systematically prevented us from holding the position of Mayor.
‘‘We are confident that this time councillors will respect the wishes of the electorate and respect the ethos of what they signed up to under the Good Friday Agreement.’’
There has been speculation that a compromise candidate could run in the shape of the SDLP’s Margaret Walsh if Sinn Fein’s bid looks doomed.
The SDLP has only held the post once, with North Belfast MLA Alban Maginness serving as Belfast’s first and only nationalist mayor in 1997.
