Belfast Election Diary
Nationalism is not the only issue in the Northern Ireland elections.
By Yael Julie Fischer, London School of Economics
Wednesday March 21, 2007
Saturday, Feb. 24, 2007, will be a date for the history books of Northern Ireland. It was the date of a rugby match at Croke Park in Dublin, where England played for the first time since the Bloody Sunday Massacre of 1920 (when British troops opened fire on the Irish crowd). Ireland won decisively. Lansdowne Road, the main stadium in Dublin, is typically the place for such games, but it is undergoing construction, and so Croke Park, which is reserved for Irish—or Gaelic—sports, changed their rules to allow a rugby match. All those in Ireland, Catholic and Protestant, in the Republic and in the North, cheered together for Ireland to trounce England.
The game would be little more than sports trivia if not for the political reality in Northern Ireland. The state, comprising six counties, has endured 30 years of fighting over the sovereignty question. The Loyalists, or Unionists, who are primarily Protestant, want to remain part of the United Kingdom and the Nationalists, who are primarily Catholic, want to join the Republic of Ireland.
Yet, despite fighting for 30 years, the two sides came together and joined the rest of Ireland to fight the British. “Ah, yes,” a loyalist furniture store owner said. “In Northern Ireland it’s all a wee bit complicated.” “History is behind us,” was the verdict of BBC announcer Jim Stokes. Stokes wrote, “Irish history will always remain, but the future was plain for all to see.” He was referring to the respect shown by the fans during the Irish national anthem. “No one booed.” Although a small gesture, that is the pace, like competing sides of a rugby scrum, at which progress moves in Northern Ireland—inch by inch.
On Mar. 7, Northern Ireland held elections for the Legislative Assembly. In a country where, as a local mechanic (who asked not to be quoted by name) describes it, the Unionists and Nationalists have separate hospitals, schools, housing, and graveyards, “We keep apart from the womb to the grave, we don’t want to be close even under earth.” People seldom vote on any issue other than sovereignty.
Yet, the politicians spoke a bit differently this time. “This is the first election where social issues will be on the ballot,” explained a Catholic churchgoer, identifying himself only as Big John, a few weeks before the election. “Usually in elections the issues that matter get pushed to the side over conflicts in religion. The referendum vote in 1998 [on the Good Friday Agreements] was disheartening. I know marriages that broke up over the referendum vote.”
At a candidate’s forum for the Northern Ireland Governmental Affairs Group in South Belfast, it seemed Big John was right. The question and answer format elicited questions on jobs, water taxation, and crime. The candidates responded by citing their party platforms on the issues. Glyn Roberts, Parliamentary Officer for Northern Ireland, and organizer of the forum noted the difference in tone, saying to the audience, “I think it’s a good sign bread and butter issues are center stage. I think it’s a sign of political maturity.”
Alan McFarland, a candidate from the Ulster Unionists Party (UUP), explained to listeners, “The biggest issue facing all political parties is the environment.”
“I think we’ll see the Green party make some gains given how important the environment has become to voters,” said Claire Gallagher, a student from Queens University in Belfast said later. Election results bore out that analysis, as the Green Party won their first seat.
The hopeful atmosphere at the forum was quickly overshadowed by sectarian arguments. For instance, an audience member asked about crime. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) accused Sinn Fein, which is often associated with the Irish Republican Army, of refusing to cooperate with police. Sinn Fein retorted that they cooperated and the DUP needs to distinguish between civil policing and government policing. “This is what a typical election sounds like,” the man in the audience whispered, “and that will continue as long as DUP and Sinn Fein dominate the discussion.”
And indeed DUP and Sinn Fein were the big winners in the election, taking seats away from the older, more moderate parties, the Ulster Unionists Party (UUP) and Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), which is, like Sinn Fein, anti-unionist. The DUP and Sinn Fein only briefly worked together on governance before the Assembly was dissolved in 2003 over allegations of spying.
According to research provided by the Electoral Commission of the United Kingdom, 35 percent of voters in Northern Ireland say they are willing to cross the orange-green divide—orange being the color of Unionists and green, Nationalists—to vote for a party irrespective of its stance on sovereignty. But, just as in America, people are more likely to tell pollsters that they will vote for someone of a different background than they are than to actually vote that way, and only 11 percent actually do.
A member of this minority is Anna Lo. As a Chinese woman, she was the first non-white candidate to run in Northern Ireland. The Asian community in Belfast is large but they are not used to having a voice. “Many Chinese people have never voted here,” Anna Lo told Campus Progress. “They lived here for 30 or 40 years and never had a party that they felt a connection to. I just finished a letter last night teaching them how to vote. I feel really pleased about it. They feel like outsiders looking in, they don’t have a stake in this society. Being able to vote increases their sense of belonging. This is their home but not many things make them feel at home.”
A minority candidate on the ballot was a major advance for this historically racially homogeneous society. Stewart Finn, a researcher for the Northern Ireland Assembly and a member of the International Youth Parliament, told Campus Progress, “For so many years the elections were based on sectarian issues but now, with the EU opening up, Northern Ireland is dealing with racism, or a new kind of racism. So we’ll see if she can not only get the votes of her constituency but also pull votes from other groups. In the next elections I hope well see a Polish candidate, and other minority candidates.”
Anna Lo faced an uphill battle, and some voters were skeptical of her candidacy. “Were you chosen to run to boost the profile of the political party that solicited you?” Anna was asked at a panel. Like any good politician, she avoided the question asked, saying. “If I’m elected I would be the first Chinese elected not only in the island of Ireland but also in the UK.” The historic moment came and Anna Lo won a seat in South Belfast well ahead of candidates from the more popular parties.
If social issues changed the “what” of the election and Anna Lo changed the “who,” then the Internet changed the “how.” Candidates used the Internet to reach their audience, and not primarily for negative campaigning. “Count on Americans to come up with a nasty way,” Quinton Oliver, a consultant with Stratagem joked when I asked if any candidate had been “George Allen-ed” and found their own comments put online by detractors.
In Northern Ireland the election campaign made it clear that there is potential for change. Yet, there are hurdles to overcome. “I sooner see a united Europe than a united Ireland,” says Steve, a cigarette factory line worker. “People here are territorial. They like to know where they stand and where everyone else stands. Everyone wants to fit everyone into a box.”
But there is hope. Social issues and minority candidates hold the potential to dilute the impact of sovereignty question, much as unified sports do. The people of Belfast have no trouble putting aside sectarian issues when it comes to rugby. Perhaps one day they will feel the same about politics.
Yael Fischer has worked in politics for the past three years. She is now studying at the London School of Economics.
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I’m an American looking at N. Ireland as an outsider. I just came back from visiting a very small town where Sinn Fein still has a stronghold of telling people what to do.
Many people in this town seem to be on gov’t assistance. They are too focused on not wanting to be a part of the UK to notice that if they join the Republic, they won’t get the same aid and have not yet begun to think about industry and work to support themselves.
Some people still have coal to burn in their fireplaces. How can areas like this move forward from religious intolerance when they don’t have basic amenities that most western countries take for granted? Where many people I spoke to left school at 15 or 16? Maybe basic needs, work and education need to be the focus in the N.I.
— E - Mar 21, 12:25 PM - #The article describes the Sinn Fein party as the militant wing of the IRA, which isn’t particularly accurate
— Haskell Fleishman - Mar 21, 03:29 PM - #Thanks for the note Haskell. A more accurate description is that it is associated with the IRA. We’ve rephrased accordingly.
— Ben Adler - Mar 21, 05:05 PM - #