Trimble may face leadership challenge

David Trimble could face a leadership challenge after his party finished second to Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists in the Northern Ireland Assembly Elections.

With the final seat allocated at Stormont, the DUP had 30 Assembly members elected, with the Ulster Unionists on 27, Sinn Féin on 24, nationalist SDLP on 18, the cross-community Alliance Party on six, loyalist PUP one, UK Unionists one and one independent.

His Ulster Unionist Assembly party are to meet with him in Belfast on Monday to discuss his future.

The DUP‘s victory also delivered a shattering blow to hopes that the power-sharing government at Stormont could be swiftly restored.

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy is to have discussions tomorrow with the Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, whose party hammered the rival nationalist SDLP and took a larger share of the vote than the Ulster Unionists.

The final Assembly seat was won tonight in Strangford by the cross- community Alliance Party which managed to hold on to all its seats at Stormont despite predictions that it would be squeezed.

Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said with the party losing its place as the premier voice in unionism David Trimble‘s position had become untenable.

With Mr Trimble due to meet his new Assembly team for the first time on Monday, the Lagan Valley MLA said the leader would have to reflect on his position.

He warned: “It is time for change and if a vacancy arises, I will consider putting my name forward. This party is not going to unite under David Trimble.

“It is clear in constituencies across Northern Ireland that two-thirds of the unionist vote was for anti-Agreement candidates.

“They voted for change. We have to consider if we can continue with the current position given the significant shift in unionist opinion.”

Mr Trimble urged his internal critics not to get carried away.

“They should not let their ambition cloud their judgement on this matter,” he said.

“We are in a position where we have actually increased our share of the vote.

“We have held our number of seats. We didn‘t actually have a majority of seats to begin with at any point in the past five years.

“But there is going to be a difference. This time the focus and the scrutiny is going to be on the Democratic Unionist Party. They can no longer afford the luxury of opposition.”

The Democratic Unionists‘ election victory gave their leader, the Reverend Ian Paisley, arguably his finest hour.

He crowed: “The SDLP were going to wipe us out with balloons and their campaign has gone up on a balloon.

“There have been seats we have taken from the official Unionists and there are other people who were opposing us in this election who have fallen by the wayside.”