SF anger over SDLP’s Le Pen warning

A furious war of words erupted between nationalists at Stormont today after an SDLP minister claimed the French presidential election should serve as a reminder to those alarmed at the prospect of further Sinn Fein and DUP gains at the ballot box.

Sinn Fein’s Alex Maskey slammed Employment and Learning Minister Carmel Hanna for insulting voters after she claimed right winger Jean Marie Le Pen’s success in the first round of the French Presidential Elections could be mirrored in next year’s Assembly elections by Sinn Fein and the DUP if there was similar voter apathy here.

Mrs Hanna claimed the French National Front leader’s surprise success proved ‘‘bad politicians are elected by good people who don’t vote’’.

She argued: ‘‘The Le Pen result has lessons for us on the island of Ireland.

‘‘A 70% turnout, low as it is in France, is higher than the 60.84% average turnout in last June’s Westminster elections in the north (of Ireland).

‘‘Political analysts here have pointed out that around 100,000 who voted for the Good Friday Agreement referendum, mostly unionists, have never bothered their heads voting since.

‘‘It is clear going round the doors that the supporters of the more extreme parties (the DUP, Sinn Fein etc) are more determined than supporters of other parties to exercise their democratic right and cast their vote and indeed they cannot be blamed for doing so.

‘‘In a few weeks time the people in the Republic will elect a new Dail and it is essential that the turnout there is considerably higher than the 30% turnout which led to the rejection of the Nice Treaty.’’

Mrs Hanna branded Mr Le Pen a ‘‘thuggish and unspeakable’’ politician and said, as a member of the left, she regretted the failure of the country’s socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to enter the final head-to-head round opposite President Jacques Chirac.

She described next year’s Assembly poll in Northern Ireland as ‘‘the mother of all elections’’.

The SDLP minister continued: ‘‘Provided the result is fair and open and not corrupted by the personation which takes place in some areas, the result must be accepted.

‘‘The SDLP will be hammering home the message: Bad politicians are elected by good people who don’t vote.’’

However, Mr Maskey claimed the minister’s statement was a ‘‘slur on Sinn Fein voters’’ which he asked her to withdraw.

The Sinn Fein Assembly chief whip said her comments were ‘‘not far removed from the language of others, including loyalist assassins who have attempted to demonise republicans’’.

The West Belfast MLA, who also expressed alarm at the French presidential election result, continued: ‘‘The reality is that the SDLP are out of touch and are unable to cope with the simple reality that more and more people are giving their support to Sinn Fein.

‘‘I support the encouragement for more people to get involved in politics and to use their democratic mandate.

‘‘As we saw at the last elections in Northern Ireland, this has resulted in Sinn Fein becoming the largest nationalist party - largely, I believe, because people trust us to defend and advance their rights and not just to protect the rights of privileged middle class professionals.’’