Wells Calls South Down Unionists To Rally At The Polls

“Despite the boundary changes the Unionist family can still retain its two seats but this will require an all-out effort and strong cooperation between the pro-union parties. [caption id="attachment_22541" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="DUP South Down MLA Jim Wells has called on Unionist unity in the polls on election day on May 5th."][/caption] “It is a fact that there are easily enough unionist voters in South Down to guarantee the retention of the two Assembly seats. The greatest single threat to the unionism in the constituency is apathy – a high turnout of unionist voters is absolutely essential on May 5th.  I would also call upon everyone who votes DUP to give their second and third preference votes to the other two unionists standing in South Down. “Unionists who use their votes wisely will help prevent a Nationalist taking an extra seat at Stormont.  There has already been a high level of cooperation between the various unionist parties at Council and Assembly level in South Down and it is vital that this continues on May 5th. Now is the time for unionism in the constituency to unite and  use their votes wisely to ensure that it still has a strong voice at Stormont”. In the last term at the NI Assembly, Jim Wells served as Chairman of the Health Committee. A veteran Unionist politician, he has decided not to stand for a seat on Down District Council and is concentrating on his efforts to regain his Assembly seat for the Unionist camp and the DUP in South Down. In the 1998 Assembly election, Jim Wells polled strongly with 8170 votes with the UUP’s Dermot Nesbitt coming in with 7770 votes.  In 2007, the DUP topped the poll in Northern Ireland and in South Down, Wells pulled 5542 votes (12%) with the UUP’s John McCallister coming in as the last MLA selected at 4447 votes (9.6%). This last seat will be a hotly contested three way tussle between standing UUP MLA John McAllister, and Down District Councillors, the SDLP’s Eamonn O’Neill and the Green Party’s Cadogan Enright. In the 2007 South Down the Assembly election, the nationalist vote returned three candidates first, Caitriona Ruane (Sinn Féin), Margaret Ritchie and Bradley (SDLP), and Jim Wells is confronting the prospect of a further strong nationalist support at the polls. He believes firmly that this last seat can be won by a show of Unionist unity despite the changes to the constituency boundary. .]]>