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Post by BossMan on Mar 8, 2013 1:39:29 GMT
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Post by East Anglian Lefty on Mar 8, 2013 1:41:51 GMT
Wikipedia has notional figures applying the 1992 results to the 1997 boundaries. It reckons the Alliance would have above 2% either way, although given how limited a presence they have outside Belfast it's anybody's guess whether that's right. It's not like Strabane and Omagh districts are natural Alliance country.
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Post by Andrew_S on Mar 8, 2013 1:51:38 GMT
Wikipedia says the new member assumed office on 7th March 2013. I don't know how that can be right when the result wasn't announced until 8th March, but the same thing seems to happen with every by-election, ie. the date of the by-election is used as the date of assumption of office: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francie_Molloy
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Post by BossMan on Mar 8, 2013 1:55:00 GMT
You could argue that as soon as polls close the winner has been elected. The actual democratic process is in the voting, not the counting.
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Sibboleth
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Post by Sibboleth on Mar 8, 2013 2:00:34 GMT
Insert relevant Stalin quote here.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2013 5:20:06 GMT
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Tony Otim
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Post by Tony Otim on Mar 8, 2013 9:23:43 GMT
The Independant exceeded the combined vote share and came close to the combined numerical vote of the 3 unionist candidates in 2010. I had thought that some more moderate unionists may have been driven elsewhere. Under the circumstances I find that slightly depressing.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2013 9:56:54 GMT
The Independant exceeded the combined vote share and came close to the combined numerical vote of the 3 unionist candidates in 2010. I had thought that some more moderate unionists may have been driven elsewhere. Under the circumstances I find that slightly depressing. Would you prefer Sinn Fein to win?
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Mar 8, 2013 9:59:07 GMT
I find it extremely encouraging
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Post by johnloony on Mar 8, 2013 10:06:27 GMT
I have been out-of-sync for the last few days in terms of my waking-and-sleeping hours, and I had to go to bed at 10pm last night. It wasn't until I got up and checked Twitter this morning that I even realised that the count had been done overnight. I had expected it to be a day-time count, with the result declaring at about 4pm or whatever.
But anyway, congratulations to the people for counting early and so swiftly by 1am. Hooray for the increase in the combined Unionist vote (up from 32% to 34%)! How much was it covered on TV last night? Was it just on the BBC News channle and/or Sky, or not at all?
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Post by timrollpickering on Mar 8, 2013 10:26:17 GMT
Sky had coverage and showed the declaration and all the candidates' speeches. I think this graph would be more useful if all the Unionist parties/independents were at the same end, nationalists at the other and Alliance & other Others in the middle.
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Tony Otim
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Post by Tony Otim on Mar 8, 2013 11:02:21 GMT
The Independant exceeded the combined vote share and came close to the combined numerical vote of the 3 unionist candidates in 2010. I had thought that some more moderate unionists may have been driven elsewhere. Under the circumstances I find that slightly depressing. Would you prefer Sinn Fein to win? No, when it comes to Northern Ireland I prefer to see the moderate ones of both sides of the divide doing well (whilst also acknowledging that the more extremist parties have in fact moderated somewhat). I don't think the joint unionist candidate here was a forward-thinking piece of moderate unionism trying to maximise the unionist vote, rather it was, as Al said earlier in the thread a piece of "despicable sectarian dickwaving" harking back to something decades ago. Therefore I do find it slightly depressing.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Mar 8, 2013 11:07:23 GMT
Sky had coverage and showed the declaration and all the candidates' speeches. They even interrupted a commercial break to go to it. BBC News also promised live coverage earlier in the night, although I wasn't watching to check whether they managed it. They are in the middle of a simulcast with BBC World from 1 AM to 1:30 so domestic news often gets forgotten.
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The Bishop
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Post by The Bishop on Mar 8, 2013 11:11:17 GMT
In the light of tonyotim's comments, worth noting there was a SF to SDLP swing as well (which contrasts with the Belfast West by-election in 2011)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2013 11:18:35 GMT
Sky had coverage and showed the declaration and all the candidates' speeches. I think this graph would be more useful if all the Unionist parties/independents were at the same end, nationalists at the other and Alliance & other Others in the middle. That's a fair point, I'm using mainland mindset for a very un-mainland election :-). I'm in London for the weekend so will try resolve it as soon as
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Post by johnloony on Mar 8, 2013 13:08:34 GMT
Sky had coverage and showed the declaration and all the candidates' speeches. They even interrupted a commercial break to go to it. More than they managed for Croydon North then.
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Post by paulw on Mar 8, 2013 15:01:37 GMT
Would you prefer Sinn Fein to win? No, when it comes to Northern Ireland I prefer to see the moderate ones of both sides of the divide doing well (whilst also acknowledging that the more extremist parties have in fact moderated somewhat). I don't think the joint unionist candidate here was a forward-thinking piece of moderate unionism trying to maximise the unionist vote, rather it was, as Al said earlier in the thread a piece of "despicable sectarian dickwaving" harking back to something decades ago. Therefore I do find it slightly depressing. To describe the murder of a candidate's father by the IRA as "something" brings euphemism to new depths. I think it's wrong to see Sinn Fein just as the hardline version of Nationalism. Their background puts them outside the normal range of politics and that won't change until the Adams/McGuinness/Molloy generation move on. I've never heard anyone provide a satisfactory justification for supporting Sinn Fein in preference to the SDLP
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Sibboleth
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Post by Sibboleth on Mar 8, 2013 15:11:36 GMT
They do a much better job of articulating the practical and everyday concerns and interests of Catholic voters than the (in most places) painfully middle class and rather (small 'c') conservative SDLP manage. It's really not that complicated.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2013 15:54:09 GMT
They do a much better job of articulating the practical and everyday concerns and interests of Catholic voters than the (in most places) painfully middle class and rather (small 'c') conservative SDLP manage. It's really not that complicated. The SDLP might be middle class, but I think they are rather more articulate, sensible and reflective of normality (what are the differences exactly in concerns that Sinn Fein represent better than the SDLP?) Sinn Fein are, were and always will be a bunch of thugs masquerading as politicans.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2013 16:05:31 GMT
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