Defeated candidate prepares for court

Editorial Department • Published 26 Aug 2010 16:00 0 Comments

Jump to first paragraph.

See also:

RODNEY Connor still believes losing to Michelle Gildernew in the General Election was “wrong”.

Ms. Gildernew won the Fermanagh and South Tyrone seat in May by just four votes after three recounts.

Mr. Connor, the unionist unity candidate will take legal action against the Electoral Office next month.

His team will have to outline to Dungannon Court why they believe the election process was “flawed”.

Recently, legal representatives from both sides held meetings in Belfast.

It’s understood both parties discussed a number of issues, including the tallying and recounting of votes.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter, Rodney Connor said he was “confident” of winning the legal challenge: “I believe there is enough evidence to show it was flawed. In the interest of justice it’s very important that this is examined by the courts, but I will accept whatever decision the courts make,” he said.

If he wins, the Judge could call for a by-election. If this happens, Mr. Connor may refuse to stand again, according to unionist circles.

However, he remained tight-lipped when pushed on the issue.

“My entire efforts at the moment are in addressing this particular issue. Once this process has been dealt with then we will sit down and talk about those other issues. That is as much as I am going to say about that right now,” he said.

Arlene Foster said the issue was “a matter for Rodney”.

“At the end of the day he has to make a decision about if he’ll stand again or not. If he wanted to then I would offer him my support, but all we are concerned about at the moment is getting this challenge through. I don’t believe the proper procedures were followed on the night of the election count and I think the court will need to look at that very carefully. I will not go into the whole details of the challenge but I am confident that the way in which it was handled was not in accordance with the rules and regulations,” she said.

Tom Elliott says he is “fairly confident” that Mr. Connor would win the election petition. He also expressed his concerns following the publication of the Electoral Commission’s Report into May’s General Election last week. Mr. Elliott says the report fails to highlight “the irregularities” in the counting of votes in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.

“I met with the Electoral Commission Northern Ireland representative and outlined my concerns about some of the actions of Sinn Fein Party workers on the day of the election along with my grave concerns that the entire process for the counting of votes seemed to be a very rushed affair without proper verification of ballot papers issued. There were also ballot papers found in the ballot boxes which meant that we had three recounts and a very questionable result at the end,” he said.

Sinn Fein MP Michelle Gildernew, however, would not be drawn into what she described as a “slagging match”.

“This is just a distraction from the good work I’m doing. Rodney can do what he likes,” she said.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 26 Aug 10

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.