Greens call for new form of power sharing

THE Green Party has appealed to Northern voters to "rock the vote and silence the guns" by supporting its election manifesto.

The party, launching its election campaign in Belfast yesterday, urged a settlement based on a non majoritarian consensus. Collective compromise was the key to a new political agreement, it said.

The Greens are fielding 50 candidates, competing in all constituencies. A further six candidates, including Southern MEP Ms Nuala Ahern are named on the "top up" regional list. To win two seats under the "top up" system, the Greens must feature in the list of 10 parties recording the highest total number of votes.

The Greens, in their manifesto, favour parallel decommissioning during inclusive talks, the early release of paramilitary prisoners, a police force more "accessible" to the entire community, non majoritarian decision making, and the incorporation of the European Convention of Human Rights into British law.

Mr Peter Emerson, founder of the Greens in Northern Ireland, and a party candidate in Belfast North, called for a "new politics, and a new form of power sharing" in which "no one wins everything but every one wins something".

Mr Emerson said the single vote nature of the election - as opposed to a transferable vote - favoured the bigger parties, but he believed the Greens had "a good chance" of featuring in the top 10.

The Greens also hope that one or more of their members can be directly elected.

The Greens further acknowledge that the nationalist unionist adversarial focus of Northern politics is making it difficult for them to make the same breakthrough as the party has achieved in the South.

But Mr Paddy McEvoy, a regional list candidate, believes that the Greens are making headway. Young people particularly were warming to them. "We are appealing to a cross section of people because we are builders, not demolition experts; we are peace makers, not peace fakers," he said.

Mr Peter Doran from Derry, a candidate in the Foyle constituency, said the Greens wanted to shatter the comfortable assumptions of complacent and mediocre politicians.