SDLP Election Race Intensifies as Ritchie Enters

Leadership Battle Expected to be Between Ritchie and McDonnell

Nov 12, 2009

For the first time in its 40-year history, the SDLP is facing a leadership contest to determine who replaces outgoing leader Mark Durkan

Stormont Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie yesterday officially launched her campaign to replace Mark Durkan as SDLP leader.

Her only rival for the position is the party's Deputy Leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell.

Mr Durkan announced his resignation as leader in September. He has been party leader since 2001.

The election is set to take place in February 2010 at the party's next annual conference.

Declining Fortunes

The nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) was formed in 1970 at the outset of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Until comparatively recently it was the largest nationalist party but in the last decade its electoral fortunes have declined with the rise of Sinn Fein.

It now has 16 representatives in the Northern Ireland Assembly, compared to Sinn Fein's 28. It has three Westminster MPs, compared to Sinn Fein's five.

The new leader will be the party's fourth, following Gerry Fitt, John Hume and Mark Durkan.

Rival Campaigns

BBC News reported that Ms Ritchie used her campaign launch to outline her three main objectives if elected as leader:

"A prosperous, increasingly independent economy that lifts the lives and wellbeing of all. A genuinely shared society and, in time, a united Ireland."

Last month, when launching his campaign, Dr McDonnell exhorted those who wanted to revive the party's fortunes to "come with me".

Good Friday Agreement

In the early years of power-sharing after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the SDLP was one of the two dominant parties alongside the Ulster Unionist Party. Now both parties have been supplanted by Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) respectively.

The party has long been seen as the champion of civil rights and power-sharing but many commentators now believe it needs a more modern and dynamic outlook if it is to revive its fortunes.

The new leader's first challenge will be the British general election which has to be held by early June 2010 at the earliest. The party will be seeking to retain its three seats in Foyle, South Belfast and South Down.

Some in the party are also unhappy that the party is set to miss out on the position of Justice Minister which it is rumoured will go instead to the Alliance Party.

SDLP Policing spokesman Alex Attwood has said the minister should be chosen under the d'Hondt system rather than on the basis of a cross-community vote, which would give the ministry to the SDLP. Instead the DUP and Sinn Fein appear to have agreed the post will go to the Alliance Party.

The copyright of the article SDLP Election Race Intensifies as Ritchie Enters in Irish Affairs is owned by Simon Finn. Permission to republish SDLP Election Race Intensifies as Ritchie Enters in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.