The campaign so far

 DUP co-options

The DUP recently co-opted Lagan Valley MLA, and former leader, Edwin Poots to fill the South Belfast seat left vacant after the passing of Christopher Stalford. Poots will likely contest South Belfast in May. Paul Rankin was then co-opted into the vacant Lagan Valley seat. It was odd that Jeffrey Donaldson did not co-opt himself into the seat. This may have allowed the Lagan Valley by-election to occur on the same day causing rivals candidates for choose to stand in just one of the elections. This may suggest the DUP is not particularly confident in holding both seats in Lagan Valley and they have confirmed they will only field 2 candidates. 

Retirements

Two DUP MLAs have also announced they are standing down at the election. George Robinson will retire after many years of service in East Londonderry. DUP deputy leader Paula Bradley also announced she will be stepping down as an MLA in order to care for her elderly parents. That means both DUP MLAs for North Belfast will be stepping back. Phillip Brett and Brian Kingston have been announced as the party’s nominees. 

Rent cut farce 

A few weeks ago the Assembly passed legislation around private rent. People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll inserted an amendment to cut private rent by 10% and the amendment was passed on a vocal vote. The following week however, the assembly voted to neuter the bill with parties seemingly not aware what they had originally voted for. This raises questions about how competent our legislators are as nobody, including Deirdre Hargey, the Communities minister, raised any concerns during the initial debate. No doubt People Before Profit will highlight this u-turn and the circumstances of it during the campaign. 

Alliance intern recruitment 

The Alliance Party has been criticised for advertising to recruit interns from abroad to volunteer on their election campaign. Criticism has been based on two areas, firstly the party was offering a stipend for 5 ‘interns’ but this stipend would be under the minimum wage. Secondly the idea that a party needs to recruit volunteers from abroad, and of course outside of the party, suggests they cannot get enough volunteers from within the party to canvas. Alliance has since decided not to pursue the scheme. 

St. Patrick’s day

Sinn Féin have been criticised for politicising St. Patrick’s day. During their time in the United States party representatives pressed the case for a United Ireland and have come under fire from unionists for doing so.

Polling

A LucidTalk poll is currently live. It is polling first preferences for the upcoming election and results should be due before the end of the month. Another poll was commissioned around the NI Protocol and of course is being spun by proponents of each view. There is no majority across Northern Ireland for the protocol to be entirely scrapped, but there is a significant majority for the protocol to be changed in some way.

The election is due on the 5th May. Ensure you have registered for vote and check whether or not you need to register for a postal or proxy vote.