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The
final outcome of the Stormont assembly election indicates
a deadlock as far as the Agreement is concerned. Republican
Sinn Féin said at the outset five-and-a-half
years ago that the Agreement was not a settlement
and would not work in the medium to long-term.
Because
it was debarred from the election by the political
test oath required of candidates for nomination, Republican
Sinn Féin called for either a boycott of the
polls or a spoiling of votes.
We
would not (a) disown publicly the organisations of
the Republican Movement and (b) deny the right of
the Irish people to resist English rule in Ireland
and were therefore excluded from what was not a free
and fair election.
For
our part we are satisfied that 170,000 voters did
not register and at that the turnout was significantly
down throughout the Six Counties while the number
of spoiled votes has not been revealed.
Tens
of thousands of leaflets were distributed by our members
and hundreds of posters displayed as well as slogans
painted. An Agreement which is based on a sectarian
headcount and is an artificially contrived method
to govern an artificial statelet cannot survive in
the long run.
A
nine-county Ulster within a four-province federation,
with optimum devolution within the provinces, is the
only way forward. It will provide power and decision-making
to all communities and sections of the people of Ireland.
Yet
again the artificial means to copper-fasten English
rule here has met with failure. It is time to consider
other alternatives.
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