Election 2022: More of the same from SF in West Belfast

Sinn Fein’s Danny Baker was elected on the first count in West Belfast with three of his party colleagues poised to join him at Stormont.
By The Newsroom
Published 7th May 2022, 07:13 BST
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He was the clear winner with 9,011 first preference votes (20.6% share) in this Sinn Fein stronghold.

Orlaithi Flynn (6,743), Pat Sheehan (6,373) and Aisling Reilly (5,681) will all make it safely over the line, leaving a scrap for the final seat.

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Frank McCoubrey of the DUP is still in the running having polled 4,166 votes (9.5%).

Sinn Fein’s Danny Baker (centre) was elected on the first count, sparking celebrations at the Titanic Belfast count centre.Sinn Fein’s Danny Baker (centre) was elected on the first count, sparking celebrations at the Titanic Belfast count centre.
Sinn Fein’s Danny Baker (centre) was elected on the first count, sparking celebrations at the Titanic Belfast count centre.

The other contenders are Gerry Carroll of People Before Profit on 3,279 and the SDLP’s Paul Doherty on 2,528.

Anti-abortion Aontu candidate Gerard Herdman only polled 1,753 first preference votes despite being publicly backed by a number west Belfast church leaders.

In recent weeks, priests at both Clonard Monastery and in Ballymurphy condemned all political parties who support abortion.

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Speaking from the pulpit at the Corpus Christi church in Ballymurphy, Fr Patrick McCafferty urged his congregation to vote for Gerard Herdman, and added: “The evil of abortion is irreconcilable with being a Catholic, and the evil of abortion is promoted by parties like Sinn Féin and the SDLP and the rest of them... the Alliance... and all that other crew.”

However, the Aontu candidate secured only a 4% share of the vote.

People Before Profit ran a single candidate this time around having fielded two in 2017 but the total PBP vote was down 50%.

At the last election, Gerry Carroll attracted 4,903 votes with running mate Michael Collins bringing in a further 1,096 (a 14.9% share in total).

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That share was cut to 7.5% when the first preference votes for Mr Carroll were counted last night.

The SDLP’s share fell to 5.8% from 8.6% in 2017.

Having secured only 747 votes in the West Belfast constituency five years ago, Sorcha Eastwood was this year nominated as one of two Alliance candidates for Lagan Valley where she was elected with 8,211 votes.

Results

Danny Baker (SF) Elected 9,011 20.6%

Órlaithí Flynn (SF) 6,743 15.4%

Pat Sheehan (SF) 6,373 14.6%

Aisling Reilly (SF) 5,681 13.0%

Frank McCoubrey (DUP) 4,166 9.5%

Gerry Carroll (PBP) 3,279 7.5%

Paul Doherty (SDLP) 2,528 5.8%

Gerard Herdman (Aontú) 1,753 4.0%

Dan Murphy (IRSP) 1,103 2.5%

Donnamarie Higgins (Alliance) 907 2.1%

Jordan Doran (TUV) 802 1.8%

Linsey Gibson (UUP) 474 1.1%

Stevie Maginn (Green) 307 0.7%

Patrick Crossan (Workers Party) 193 0.4%

Gerard Burns (Independent) 192 0.4%

Tony Mallon (Independent) 129 0.3%

Declan Hill (Independent) 26 0.1%

Related topics:SDLPSinn Fein