Trimble to face fresh poll today

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, NOV. 4. A controversial deal, denounced as a ``fudge'' by critics, is reported to have been reached to resolve the latest political crisis in Northern Ireland which erupted on Friday after the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) chief, Mr. David Trimble, failed to get re-elected as First Minister of the Provincial Assembly.

The agreement allows a group of independent legislators, who support Mr. Trimble's peace efforts, to be temporarily redesignated as Unionists and their votes used to give him the majority he needs to be re-elected. Thanks to a complicated voting system he lost the election because he fell short of one Unionist vote despite getting the support of 70 per cent of the Assembly members. A fresh ballot is likely to be held on Monday and, assuming there is no unexpected hitch, Mr. Trimble is set to take over as First Minister - a post he quit in July to force the IRA to start decommissioning.

His party decided to return to the Assembly and the power-sharing executive after the IRA kicked off the process of decommissioning by destroying an undisclosed quantity of weapons on October 23. But two party members, Ms. Pauline Armitage and Mr. Peter Weir, disagreed with the decision saying they were not satisfied with the manner of decommissioning and voted against Mr. Trimble in Friday's ballot. They have been accused of wrecking the peace process, and are to be expelled from the party for their ``dishonest'' conduct.

The agreement with the independent Alliance Party, representing cross-community opinion, followed hectic negotiations over the weekend between its leader, Mr. David Ford, and the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr. John Reid, even as Sinn Fein and hardline Unionists demanded fresh elections. The first hint that a deal was at hand came on Friday night when Dr. Reid announced that progress had been made in his discussions with political leaders. On Saturday, the Alliance Party met and voted in favour of the idea of being redesignated but in exchange it asked for a substantive change in the present voting system which marginalises independent groups.

The party's deputy leader, Ms Eileen Bell, said in the absence of a ``fundamental review'' of the system, similar crisis could arise again. Mr Ford insisted that a new voting procedure must be devised to give all members/groups equal weightage. Dr. Reid said the Alliance Party's concerns over the ``failure and efficiency'' of the present system would be addressed. The hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, attacked the move and threatened to challenge its legality.

``Clearly, there is some attempt going on to cheat, to rig the process by the Government and the pro-Agreement parties. They simply cannot accept that they were beaten and rather than going for fresh elections they are trying to find some way of getting David Trimble back into Government by the backdoor,'' the DUP MP, Mr. Nigel Dodds, said.

Even among pro-Good Friday Agreement groups, there is unease over ``tinkering'' with rules but it is outweighed by the concern to save the peace process.

A failure to find a way out of the crisis would have led to a suspension of the Assembly or fresh elections, thus heightening the political tension.

An Irish dissident paramilitary group is believed to be behind a ``serious'' car bomb explosion in Birmingham, central England, late on Saturday which caused no serious injuries, police said.

The explosion took place in the rear of a vehicle on a busy street in the city centre when many people were heading for nightspots.

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Section  : International
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