Belfast voters to elect Adams successor

Voters in west Belfast will head to the polls today to elect a successor to long-standing MP Gerry Adams.

The by-election was called after the Sinn Féin president resigned his seat to run as a member of the Dáil.

He was elected as a TD for Louth in the Republic of Ireland's General Election in February as Sinn Féin tried to affirm its credentials as an all-Ireland party.

It would be a seismic political upset if his party failed to hold on to the seat situated in Belfast’s republican heartland. It is considered the safest seat in the North, and the fourth safest in the UK.

But there are fears of a low turnout as constituents are being asked to cast a ballot for the fourth major election in three years.

Mr Adams was re-elected in the 2010 UK general election with a majority of 17,500.

Sitting west Belfast Assembly member Paul Maskey has been chosen as Sinn Féin’s candidate this time out in what is a six-way contest.

Stormont Environment Minister Alex Attwood, who is also an MLA for the area, is running for the SDLP.

Brian Kingston is standing for the Democratic Unionists and Bill Manwaring for the Ulster Unionists.

The Alliance Party’s candidate is Aaron McIntyre and Gerry Carroll is representing People Before Profit.

Polls close at 10pm and counting will begin immediately at the city’s Kings Hall. A result is expected through the night.

Mr Adams was first elected in 1983 and held on to the seat until 1992 when he was sensationally defeated by the SDLP’s Joe Hendron, who secured unprecedented levels of support from tactical unionist voters in the loyalist Shankill area.

The Sinn Fein president regained the seat at the next general election in 1997 and remained as an MP, albeit abstaining from taking his place at Westminster, until his resignation earlier this year.