Trimble elected amid drama

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, NOV. 6. The week-long political crisis in Northern Ireland which often degenerated into a farce, ended today with the Ulster Unionist Party chief, Mr. David Trimble, being elected as First Minister after three independent MLAs transferred their votes to him in order to give him the majority he needed under the Assembly's complicated rules.

The SDLP's Mr. Mark Durkan, who stood on a joint ticket with Mr. Trimble, was elected Deputy First Minister.

There was high drama after the vote as angry hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) members denounced the election as a fraud and accused the parties supporting the Good Friday Agreement of ``rigging'' the system to get Mr. Trimble elected. A scuffle broke out even as Mr. Trimble was addressing a post- election press conference.

A visibly shaken Mr. Trimble said the party would not be disturbed by ``mob violence'' while the DUP leader, Mr. Ian Paisley, accused the Sinn Fein and SDLP members of provoking the violence. He said if they thought they could run the system by ``cheating'' they had ``another thing coming''. He demanded that those involved in the unruly behaviour should be identified and exposed. ``It is a sad day for Northern Ireland,'' he said.

Earlier, a DUP motion opposing the decision to allow independent MLAs to redesignate themselves as unionists and transfer their votes to Mr. Trimble and Mr. Durkan was defeated. Shouts of ``cheats'' greeted the announcement of Mr. Trimble's election which followed a spate of protests by DUP. Despite the extraordinary efforts that went into ensuring Mr. Trimble's victory, he won by just one vote and his critics were quick to claim that though he won the procedural war he had lost the ``moral battle''.

The election brought to an end a crisis which erupted last Friday when Mr. Trimble was defeated after two of his party rebels, Ms. Pauline Armitage and Mr. Peter Weir, voted against him opposing his decision to accept the IRA's claims on decommissioning.

After intensive negotiations, a group of independents agreed to support him in exchange for the promise of a review of the present voting system that is weighted against non-party MLA. The election was to have been held on Monday but was put off by a day following objections from the DUP.

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Section  : International
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