Trimble vote delayed for 24 hours by hardline unionists
UUP leader David Trimble will have to wait until tomorrow to find out if he can be re-elected as the North’s new First Minister after a unionist petition halted the vote today.
The anti-agreement Northern Ireland Unionist Party, which has three MLAs, collected 30 signatures in a "petition of concern" to block the re-designation of three Alliance Party members as unionists.
The Alliance Party was planning the move to ensure Mr Trimble can get the 50% unionist support he needs to be re-elected.
The Alliance Party has admitted that its attempted re-designation will last just one week.
However, it also said that the move is designed to save the Good Friday Agreement and the Assembly from those hardline unionists who want to destroy it.
In return for re-designating, Alliance have been promised a review of future voting procedures, which currently leave the decision-making process in the hands of designated unionists and nationalists.
This Alliance Party manoeuvre and the re-designation of a Women’s Coalition member last week have angered the anti-agreement DUP, which has launched a legal bid today to prevent another Assembly vote.
The hardline unionist party is seeking an injunction at the Belfast High Court to stop the vote going ahead because, it said, the deadline for electing a new First Minister expired at midnight on Saturday.
The DUP is also challenging Northern Secretary John Reid’s decision to allow Saturday’s deadline to pass without calling fresh Assembly elections.
