Parties continue row over by-election
THE war of words is continuing after a £30,000 by-election was forced in Craigavon Borough Council.
While the TUV, DUP and UUP issued contrasting statements about who was to blame, a council spokeswoman said that the DUP and UUP had both lodged nomination papers for their own preferred candidates ahead of Monday night, when the by-election was triggered.
The TUV said that it had struck a deal in August to allow the co-option of Robert Halliday as a DUP councillor in Ballymoney on the understanding that the DUP would not oppose the co-option of David Calvert as TUV councillor in Craigavon this week.
TUV leader Jim Allister insisted that it was the DUP who had triggered the by-election because DUP Councillor Sidney Anderson proposed a DUP-preferred candidate when no seconder was found for the TUV candidate.
"The act of proposing another candidate triggers a by-election," said Mr Allister.
However a spokeswoman for Craigavon Borough Council appeared to disagree.
"If there had been no other names in for nomination and there had been no seconder for the TUV candidate a by-election would automatically have been triggered anyway," she said.
The spokeswoman confirmed that nomination papers for DUP and UUP preferred candidates had been handed in before the council meeting, however the two parties vetoed each other's candidates in voting, while nationalists abstained.
Mr Allister also lambasted the DUP for failing to agree to suggestions from the council's chief executive that standing orders might have been suspended to allow the TUV candidate to be co-opted without a seconder.
UUP councillor Kenny Twyble confirmed that a meeting took place two weeks ago where all parties on the council considered the possibility, but said that they had agreed not to do so because such a move would require "time and deep consideration".
He added: "The council's existing standing orders have served us well for decades."
DUP group leader Councillor Stephen Moutray insisted that his party had "not opposed" the co-option of the TUV candidate but that the proposal fell when nobody stepped forward to second it.
The DUP then proposed "an independent, non-party aligned local community worker, Bruce Kidd, to fill the position in an effort to save ratepayers the cost of a by-election," he said. He also condemned the UUP for then preferring its own candidate, Harry Hamilton.
Mr Twyble said the UUP were never part of a deal but that now that we are facing a by-election "the UUP will select a candidate – and we hope to win and add to the service provided by the party in the Craigavon area".
SDLP councillor Dolores Kelly said it would cost some 30,000 for a by-election to satisfy "political egos".
"This was payback by the UUP for the DUP's refusal of a co-option in Dromore last year," she said.
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Tuesday 14 February 2012
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