SF poses main threat to DUP in European poll, says Robinson

At least seven candidates are expected to run in the European Parliament elections in Northern Ireland.

The only sitting MEP contesting the elections in Northern Ireland, Mr Jim Nicholson of the Ulster Unionists, lodged his papers with the electoral office last Friday, while the DUP, Sinn Féin and SDLP candidates - Mr Jim Allister, Ms Bairbre de Brún and Mr Martin Morgan respectively - nominated yesterday.

At least three other candidates are expected to confirm they are running before nominations for the June 10th poll close on Thursday: former president of the Ulster Farmers' Union, Mr John Gilliland, Derry socialist and journalist Mr Eamonn McCann, and Ms Marie Perry of the Green Party.

These three candidates are hoping that Northern Ireland will, for once, depart from normal tribal politics and elect one of them, although it is generally accepted that the main electoral battle is between the DUP, the Ulster Unionists, Sinn Féin and the SDLP.

This campaign will be notable for the absence of long-serving MEPs, the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley and former SDLP leader Mr John Hume, who have both retired from the Parliament.

Dr Paisley topped the poll in the last five European elections, with Mr Hume second on each occasion. The DUP in this election is making it a matter of unionist pride that its candidate, Mr Allister, again tops the poll.

But, as outlined by the DUP deputy leader Mr Peter Robinson yesterday and by several speakers at the DUP conference on Saturday, it is contending that the main threat this time is from Sinn Féin's Ms de Brún, rather than the SDLP's Mr Morgan.

Mr Robinson warned against unionist complacency and said there was a possibility Sinn Féin would benefit from a "collapse of the SDLP vote".

"If that were to happen, then the Sinn Féin organisation would be hoping that it could parade around this world strutting as the leader of political opinion in Northern Ireland," he added.

"You could just imagine the reaction that there would be around the world at the sight of the Tricolours in cars driving around the City Hall in Belfast and elsewhere, claiming that they are now the spokespersons for Northern Ireland."

Ms de Brún, who lodged her papers in the company of Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams and chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness, is mounting a campaign to win the party's first European seat in Northern Ireland.

She said Sinn Féin, which eclipsed the SDLP to emerge as the main nationalist party in the November Assembly elections, would "be a new, radical voice in Europe", and she was "confident that voters will respond to that vision through the course of the campaign".