Voters cast verdict on N. Ireland power-sharing

David Trimble: crucial test

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) -- Voting is under way in a parliamentary by-election in Northern Ireland seen as a key test of Protestant opinion on the merits of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.

A by-election to fill the South Antrim seat in the British Parliament has pitted the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), which supports the Good Friday peace accord despite bitter internal splits, against the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is unambiguously hostile to the 1998 pact.

The internal battle among Protestant unionists -- so called because they back Northern Ireland's political union with Britain -- threatens to do further damage to Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, the Nobel laureate who is leading the fledgling coalition government alongside Catholics.

Many Ulster Unionists fear that their party could lose its position as the biggest Protestant-supported party to the uncompromising Democratic Unionists.

The question is not over numbers -- Northern Ireland only has a few seats in the British Parliament. The issue is influence.

This election, with results expected early Friday, provides the first electoral test since Trimble overcame substantial internal opposition to form the four-party coalition last December.

The Democratic Unionists are part of the coalition but refuse to sit in any Cabinet meetings alongside Sinn Fein, the hard-line Catholic party which is an ally of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Trimble had sought an Ulster Unionist candidate fully supportive of the peace process, but instead local party officers picked David Burnside, a public-relations specialist who has become increasingly critical of the Good Friday pact.

The Democratic Unionists are fielding a high-profile candidate, the Rev. William McCrea, an evangelist well known for his verbose charm and Christian crooning.

Trimble conceded that McCrea could win if moderate Protestants didn't bother to vote in sufficient numbers, as often happens in Northern Irish elections. He said he hoped at least 60 percent of registered voters would go to the polls.

South Antrim, which includes several towns west and north of Belfast, had previously been an Ulster Unionist stronghold. The Democratic Unionists had not run a candidate against the incumbent, Clifford Forsythe, since his election in 1983. He died in April.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Ulster Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party

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