The Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP), Northern Ireland’s only nationalist party represented at Westminster, has ruled out a general election pact with Sinn Féin.
The party, which will defend three seats in the House of Commons, described electoral pacts as based on “sectarian, selfish interests”.
The SDLP leader and South Belfast MP Alasdair McDonnell told his party’s annual conference on Saturday that it would contest all 18 Northern Ireland’s constituencies in May.
“We will not get distracted by the advances of either [the Sinn Féin deputy first minister] Martin McGuinness or [the Ulster Unionist party leader] Mike Nesbitt seeking pacts. The SDLP will be standing candidates for election in every single constituency in the North, armed only with our excellent candidates and our progressive policies,” McDonnell said in his speech.
“I’m already fighting South Belfast with all of my energy and Mark Durkan has been doing the same in Derry and Margaret Ritchie in South Down,” he said.
McDonnell could face a major challenge to unseat him if the two main unionist parties, the Democratic Unionists and the Ulster Unionists, agree to an electoral pact before May.
If all three SDLP MPs are returned to the Commons they would be certain to back a minority Labour government in the event of a hung parliament. The unionist bloc at Westminster would be more likely to prop up a minority Tory administration. Either way, the votes cast in the 18 Northern Ireland constituencies may turn out to be crucial.
Martin McGuinness described McDonnell’s rejection as a mistake and a lost opportunity for nationalism.
It now appears that unionists are more likely to form an electoral pact, which might help them not only unseat McDonnell, but also defend North Belfast for the DUP and mount a major challenge to Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew, the MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone.
