Republican News · Thursday 29 May 2003

Cancellation of elections is subversion of democracy

SF Dáil motion on peace process

Sinn Féin this week used its second opportunity for Private Members' time in Leinster House to put forward a motion demanding that the British government fully restores the political institutions established under the Agreement. The motion also demands that the British set a date for Assembly elections to be held before end of June; that the Dublin government provide representation in the Dáil for people from the Six Counties and; promote all-Ireland policies and strategies across the full range of governmental responsibilities.

Speaking on Tuesday during the opening of the debate, which was scheduled for discussion on Wednesday also, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said:

"Elections that were to have taken in two days time in Ireland have been unilaterally cancelled by the British. Approximately one million Irish voters will be disenfranchised by this most undemocratic decision.

"Other countries that have cancelled elections are: Lesotho - 1970; Chile - 1973; Algeria - 1992; Sri Lanka - 1998; Nepal - 2002; Georgia - 2003.

"All parties in this House have expressed concern over this move on 7 May, and most expressed their disappointment with it.

"I believe that it is possible for the House to reach a consensus on this issue that Sinn Féin has selected as the subject of our motion at this critical time.

"The British government has no right to cancel elections in Ireland, which derive directly from the Good Friday Agreement and the endorsement of that Agreement by the overwhelming majority of the Irish people.

"The Irish government opposed this. Indeed every political party in Ireland opposed it. Only UUP leader David Trimble and the British government supported this undemocratic action.

"The cancellation of elections is a subversion of democracy.

"In any normal democratic society, a crisis in the political institutions would lead directly to elections to establish a fresh mandate for the political parties. That is the way of democracy. That is the way of politics.

"The cancellation of elections has created a dangerous political vacuum which those opposed to the peace process will seek to fill.

"The British and Irish governments accepted this logic in their recently published Joint Declaration when they said, " the best way of ensuring that peace remains permanent is by demonstrating that politics work." How does canceling democratic elections demonstrate, in any way, that politics work?

"And the damage is compounded by the failure to implement the Agreement in full.

"The key to making politics work is democracy. That means that people have the right to vote. It means elections. Approximately one million Irish citizens have been disenfranchised. We are now left with a very dangerous political vacuum - one that has been filled all too quickly in the past by unionist paramilitaries.

"What needs to happen now is that an election date needs to be set. The institutions need to be re-established and the Agreement implemented in full. Meetings in the absence of this will go nowhere. Issues of human rights and equality and a proper police service cannot be conditional. They are basic democratic rights and the governments must move on these immediately."

"Republicans have lived up to all of our responsibilities under the terms of the

Good Friday Agreement," said Martin Ferris. "Indeed, we have gone way beyond our responsibilities in the interests of making the Agreement work, while others have been actively engaged in trying to wreck it. We have stretched ourselves to breaking point to ensure that the Agreement doesn't unravel.

"We have reached out to unionism. We have sought to accommodate them where we

could. We have made, to what is to many of our supporters, painful and profound compromises to reassure unionists of our bona fides. But to many nationalists and republicans it seems that this is all one-way traffic. There is no evidence from either the British government or the unionists that they are really interested in bringing about the changes that are necessary to ensure that the Agreement not only survives but also flourishes.

"The recent actions of the British government have compounded the sense of anger and frustration that exists within nationalist and republican communities not only in the Six Counties but throughout the island of Ireland.

"It is not good enough to declare that you are opposed to the activities of the British government. It is not good enough to say that it is wrong. There has to be a vocal and physical manifestation of that opposition. The British government cannot be permitted to continue to just walk over the democratic rights and entitlements of Irish people, living north or south.

"But to force the British government to live up to its responsibilities the Irish government must fulfil its own responsibilities under the Good Friday Agreement.

"They must repeal their draconian and repressive legislation that has been introduced during the course of the conflict. They must also release all qualifying prisoners still detained years after they were supposed to be released.

"For our part in this House we have this evening and tomorrow evening in the course of this debate an opportunity to put some of the wrongs that this State was responsible for right. We can state in unequivocal terms, on an all-party basis, our opposition to the anti-democratic actions of the British Government in unilaterally cancelling the 29 May elections. We can demand that Tony Blair re-enfranchise the people of the Six Counties by re-scheduling the elections for the earliest possible date in June. And we can ensure that those people in the Six Counties who aspire to representation in an Irish elected forum rather than Westminster can speak and take part in debates in this House.

"I would urge deputies of all parties to support the motion before us today."

Closing the debate, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said: "The Irish government and this Dáil must give leadership. We must stand united in opposition to the decision of the British government to cancel democratic elections in Ireland. I welcome the fact TDs across the parties here have expressed their opposition to that decision. The Irish government must act not as a subordinate party in an unequal relationship but as a co-equal partner, and it must vindicate the rights of all Irish citizens."