Northern Ireland Elections 2017

[CORKBHOY]

Arlene is only being supported so as not to give in to the SF narrative.
DUP seem to be aware a change in leadership is required.

Plus O'Neill makes it easier because it will be new with new.

If the Tories pull the plug, they are going to piss off unionists as much nationalists.

Really? What are you basing this on?

 

[Corcaigh32]

Watching politics / current affairs in the North, Sunday Politics etc..............

Yet to see a DUP spokesperson say she should stay on regardless.

And to be fair, you would expect them to be hardline in an election but yet no one has said that.

 

[SoundMan]

Direct rule is a definite for the foreseeable future.

It's good to see representatives of the two more centrist parties, the UUP and the SDLP, saying that preferences should no be continued under sectarian lines.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/uup-chief-to-vote-for-sdlp-ahead-of-rival-unionists-1.2972796

I thought every party apart from the DUP had said as much. It's the only way the DUP are going to stay in place as the largest party.

 

[SoundMan]

...your guess is as good as mine as they say, the result might surprise me after all Brexit and Trump did, just cannot see SF/O'Neill working with that contemptible brute Foster and her 'militia', loathed and all as he was by some/many McGuinness plodded along carefully and after a fashion the Assembly worked, to my mind it's all taken a step or two maybe several backwards and more trenches dug...Direct Rule would be an anathema to any British Government who be shot of N.I. in a heartbeat, that, however is not going to happen anytime soon. If ever the DUP needed a united front along with SF if you like in the face of the calamitous Brexit it surely must be now

But the DUP urged their electorate to vote FOR Brexit. Not alone that the DUP took and redistributed clandestine finances to fund the Brexit campaign not just in NI but in Britain as well.

Hopefully the DUP will lose enough seats for AF to be made step aside and then SF and DUP, and there's talk of the Alliance Party too, forming a power sharing govt to bring NI forward.

There's only one thing every party and both governments agree on, and that's Direct Rule would be a retrograde step

 

[TopicGrinder]

I think the DUP will win most seats just, SF second and the Assembly will be brought back up after a prolonged negotiation.

Will the streak continue ?

 

[doolaly]

But the DUP urged their electorate to vote FOR Brexit. Not alone that the DUP took and redistributed clandestine finances to fund the Brexit campaign not just in NI but in Britain as well.

Hopefully the DUP will lose enough seats for AF to be made step aside and then SF and DUP, and there's talk of the Alliance Party too, forming a power sharing govt to bring NI forward.

There's only one thing every party and both governments agree on, and that's Direct Rule would be a retrograde step

...smirk, perfectly well aware of DUP's policies including Brexit, but thanks for hanging onto my coat tails...again.

 

[BBJ]

The two parties with the least impressive leaders (DUP and SF) are likely to get the most votes.
Northern Ireland politics are pretty depressing.

 

[jimmym]

The two parties with the least impressive leaders (DUP and SF) are likely to get the most votes.
Northern Ireland politics are pretty depressing.

how can you say michelle o neill is unimpressive based on one month of leadership?

 

[BBJ]

how can you say michelle o neill is unimpressive based on one month of leadership?

Fair point.
But let's say that, so far, she's not coming across as being much more than an ersatz copy of "Her Master's Voice".
But maybe I'll be surprised in the coming months.
Do you agree though that Arlene Foster is a beaten docket at this stage?

 

[poulgorm]

I have been told by a relative up there that the DUP, on the ground, are preaching that if they are not returned as the largest party, O'Neill will be the First Minister. The Unionists could not stomach that. They may not like Foster, but the thought of an SF First Minister would turn their stomachs. So, the DUP will top the poll again.