Robinson likely to retain top post

VOTERS in the North go to the polls today in an election that will likely see the DUP’s Peter Robinson remain First Minister.

The election will see 108 MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) returned from 18 constituencies to serve for a four-year term.

The party with the biggest number of Assembly seats gets to nominate the first minister.

After the 2007 elections, that responsibility fell to the DUP, with the party’s then leader, Ian Paisley, taking the post, before he was succeeded by Mr Robinson.

But with Sinn Féin expected to increase its seat tally in this election, the possibility exists that it could overtake the DUP and see Martin McGuinness — currently deputy first minister — take Mr Robinson’s role.

However, political observers in the North believe the DUP will win a handful more seats more than Sinn Féin, thus retaining its grip on the first minister post.

The polls open at 7am and close at 10pm. Counting begins tomorrow, with the final results expected to be declared on Saturday.

Voters will also decide today on the future make-up of the 26 local councils across the North, with a total of 582 seats up for grabs.

The council results are set to be declared on Monday or Tuesday.

Lastly, voters will be asked to decide on the system used to elect MPs to the British House of Commons.

The referendum will decide whether the current “first past the post” system should be changed for the “alternative vote” system.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that veteran journalist Eamonn McCann, who is standing in today’s election for the Assembly, was attacked by a mob while canvassing a loyalist area of Derry on Monday.

Mr McCann, 67, and a team of his People Before Profit canvassers and candidates were in the Nelson Drive area of the Waterside when they came under what a party spokesman described as “a vicious and sustained assault by a gang of men hurling broken-up paving stones and shouting sectarian abuse.”

One male canvasser was taken to hospital for treatment to a facial injury after being punched by one of the loyalist gang.

Mr McCann is a native of Derry, where he still lives, and was to the forefront of the civil rights movement in the city.

He is a member of the national executive of the National Union of Journalists and has been shortlisted by Amnesty International for its media awards, following his coverage of the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday.

Alongside him at the time of the attack on Monday were two People for Profit candidates in the council elections, Davy McAuley and Diane Greer.

Mr McAuley, who is standing in the predominantly loyalist Waterside area, said: “We have always canvassed every working class area of this city. The attackers in no way represent the people of Nelson Drive, many of whom came out to make sure we were okay.

“We stand neither for orange nor green and we do not want to see another generation blighted by sectarian bigotry.”