THE ASSEMBLY elections on May 5th will be a “defining” moment for Northern Ireland, First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson has said. They will be the first in a “new era of politics” and will set the direction of the North for decades.
Launching the DUP’s Assembly campaign in Belfast yesterday, Mr Robinson warned that the greatest danger to the DUP performing well would be “voter apathy”.
The DUP is running 44 candidates in the North’s 18 six-seat constituencies, with Mr Robinson claiming that every one of them “has an opportunity to be elected”.
He made no direct reference to the issue that has exercised the Ulster Unionist Party – trying to prevent Sinn Féin from winning most seats and therefore being in position to take the first minister post – but stressed that the DUP must maximise turnout and “use every vote to maximum effect”.
The election is fought on the single transferable vote system under proportional representation, with Mr Robinson emphasising how “vote management” would be crucial to the party’s success. “When the new Assembly sits in early May let us make sure that it is our vision and our values that will determine the future direction of Northern Ireland,” he said at the Ormeau Baths arts gallery when he addressed DUP Assembly candidates and the media.
It was clear from Mr Robinson’s speech that, unlike most past elections, constitutional issues will not be top of the agenda in this campaign – at least for the DUP. He said the campaign would be about seven issues. Unionism was bottom of that list.
“Our priorities are the public’s priorities: more jobs, tougher sentences, low rates, fix education, better health, work together and strengthen unionism. These will be our building blocks for the next month.
“This will be a long campaign, but I hope it will be a good one. The new politics we have built will be a challenge for everyone.
“But no one wants to go back to the past . . . We have made achieving a new and better future not only a prospect but an emerging reality.”
Mr Robinson was positive in tone, focusing on how this Assembly was the first to complete its full term at Stormont for over 40 years.
“Mistakes have been made along the way, but I believe we are far better placed to deliver in the next Assembly term.
“But we can be proud of what we have achieved in the last four years, and I hope that even our strongest critics would accept that we have done some good along the way.”
The DUP leader said he wanted to see a society where everyone had the opportunity to prosper and succeed “regardless of their background”, and a Northern Ireland where “the divisions of the past are being eroded and our new society is taking root”.
“And I want to see a society where everyone, regardless of their political outlook, can say: ‘I’m proud to be from Northern Ireland’.”
He added: “We should not pretend that after the election that politicians will not have to work with one another in the best interests of Northern Ireland, but nor should we pretend that there are not real differences.”
