Fearghal McKinney faces up to 300 SDLP delegates from south Belfast in a hotel in Belfast tonight (Thursday) to try to convince them that he should be their new MLA to replace Conall McDevitt who stepped down last week.

By 10pm, Mr. McKinney should know if he has been successful. The former journalist and Fermanagh man who has been working in SDLP headquarters for the past three years is up for the fight. He says he is looking forward to the contest, having always held aspirations to be a MLA.

The 51-year-old goes head to head with Claire Hanna, a Belfast Councillor and daughter of former party minister Carmel Hanna, at an SDLP conference tonight in the Wellington Park Hotel after Mr. McDevitt resigned for failing to declare payments he received from his former employer.

Nominations closed on Tuesday evening, just two short days before the conference where Mr McKinney’s political future lies in the hands and hearts of the delegates of south Belfast. These delegates vote in a secret ballot after Mr. McKinney and Ms. Hanna each deliver a five minute speech and take part in a question and answer session. “I think it is a good signal that there is a battle. It is important people do not just step into a role. You have to prove yourself and show support for you. Let’s see what happens,” Mr. McKinney said.

“A contest is a good thing and I am just looking forward to it. I am hugely encouraged by the reception I am getting in south Belfast. People recognise that I have worked hard for the party. We will wait and see if they value it sufficiently to select me,” he added Talking about the decision to run, he said: “I have been working in headquarters in South Belfast for some time and obviously decided as a result of Conall going that I would [put my name forward]. I would always have held aspirations to serve as an MLA, having stood in the Westminster election [for Fermanagh south Tyrone] in 2010 and working for the party in the background.” There has been limited opportunity to canvass for support. “These sort of things are like elections. It will be about voter contact and reaching out to people. There is very limited time to do anything because of the swift nature of the whole thing,” he said.

Mr. McKinney stood for the SDLP in Fermanagh south Tyrone in 2010 when Michelle Gildernew of Sinn Fein held on to the seat.

“In Fermanagh/South Tyrone when everything was quite tense around the 2010 election, there was a bright light for all of us in the work being done in south Belfast in terms of Alasdair’s [McDonnell, party leader] campaign. Where there was division in Fermanagh, Alasdair’s vote went up and that arose from a cross-community vote. People from all communities came together and put Alasdair back into Westminster. That was important and encouraging to me. While there was that divisive element, people were pulling together in the city.” Asked if he has his party leader’s backing, he said: “I think it is important Alasdair does not get involved, to be fair. I have worked closely with him but there has been a growing team of people working with Alasdair, all working for the future of the SDLP.” He paid tribute to Mr McDevitt. “The most important thing, I have to say at this stage, is that it is a shame that Conall had to go. He was very highly regarded parliamentarian who definitely had made a huge impact on the party for the better and helped its profile with young people. We had some major gains with a flourishing youth group and young new candidates. He was definitely a positive influence in that regard and it is sad to see him go,” he said.

Mr. McKinney has been Vice-Chairman of the SDLP since party conference last November and is also Chairman of the Castlereagh branch. In spite his journalistic past, working for The Impartial Reporter, Downtown Radio and UTV, the commonly held belief that he worked in communications within the party is not correct.

“I was in organisation and elections and putting branches together. All grassroots stuff. I like to think all the hard work has paid off. We are prepared in terms of the upcoming council election next year. In Fermanagh, there is a new candidate in Erne East -- Ritchie McPhillips. There is possibly Patricia Rodgers in Enniskillen. There is John Coyle in Belleek who people think is a councillor. There is [Councillor] Brendan Gallagher in Garrison. They are all on twitter and facebook,” he said.

SDLP values will form the answers to the issues that US former envoy Richard Haass will face in Northern Ireland when he assists the parties address key issues such as flags and parades, Mr. McKinney believes. “Now Haass is coming to town. If there were not problems in the process, there would be no need for Haass.

“The Haass answers will be around SDLP politics. You go back to John Hume: you can’t eat a flag. The answers on how to reconcile ourselves, look after poor people. We are spending £50,000 a night policing protests in Belfast that should be spent on operations for the elderly, or housing. In Fermanagh south Tyrone there is housing stress. Policing protests in Belfast is undermining the chances of getting quality housing to those areas deserving of it in Fermanagh. I think the answers, if not coming from the SDLP, are coming from SDLP values,” he said.

Check out www.impartialreporter.com tonight for the result of the crucial vote