Electoral officer defends Ian Paisley petition locations

The Recall of MPs Act 2015, under which the North Antrim MP is facing the potential of being removed from his position, gives considerable discretion to Northern Ireland’s chief electoral officer, Virginia McVea, in deciding how many locations will be made available to sign the petition.

She has opted for the petition to be placed in North Antrim’s three main towns, with it being open for signing from next Wednesday at the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre in Ballymoney, the Seven Towers Leisure Centre in Ballymena and the Sheskburn House Recreation Centre in Ballycastle.

It will remain open to sign for six weeks, until September 19 and there will be evening signings on September 6 and 13, when the petition can be signed up until 9pm. Unlike in an election, any voter can ask to vote by post or proxy.

Yesterday the chief electoral officer faced criticism from many of Mr Paisley’s rivals who argued that she should have made the petition more widely available within the largely rural constituency.

UUP leader and North Antirm MLA Robin Swann criticised the three locations as “totally inadequate for a constituency the size of North Antrim”. He also expressed concern about the “restricted opening times of 9am-5pm” on weekdays.

Mr Swann said that his party would not be registering to campaign for Mr Paisley’s removal but said he would be signing the petition and would encourage anyone who thought what Mr Paisley did was wrong to do likewise.