From: dam@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (David Morning)
Newsgroups: alt.activism
Subject: Re: Sinn Fein and Local Elections: Brit
Date: 12 Jan 93 13:47:07 GMT
Organization: Glasgow University Computing Science Dept.

emcelroy@igc.apc.org (Eugene McElroy) writes:


In an otherwise interesting article on Sinn Fein:-


>                        Proof of Voters' Identity

>      The government introduced legislation--the Elections (N.I.) Act 1985--
>which required all voters to produce evidence of their identity before being
>allowed to vote. This was inspired by claims that Sinn Fein's vote in the 1982
>Assembly and the 1983 Westminster elections had been bolstered by
>"personation" (the legal term for impersonation) and other frauds on polling
>day--referred to colloquially as 'vote early and vote often'. Evidence of
>electoral malpractice is provided by the number of 'tendered' ballot papers

From what I understand, this practise of 'vote early-vote often' pre-dates
Sinn Fein by quite some time. Apparently it was common practise for both sides
to go and vote for those who had died but were still on the electoral
registers. I believe it has also been a problem in the Republic.


>                            Broadcasting Ban

>      Perhaps the most stringent legislative measure to affect local government
>has been the restrictions on broadcasting precipitated by an upsurge of IRA

[...]

>may or may not be broadcast. In October 1988 he issued notices to the BBC and
>the IBA requiring them to refrain from broadcasting direct statements by
>representatives of organizations proscribed in the UK (The IRA, the UFF and
>the Red Hand Commandos) and by representatives of Sinn Fein and the Ulster
>Defense Association (UDA). The directives also prohibit the broadcasting of

Actually the implimentation of this has been pretty idiotic. The broadcasting
ban is dropped when elections are announced but their has been some pretty
silly interpretations of this such as film of Gerry Adams making a statement
while an actor lip syncs the words in an accent not too dissimilar to Adams
own accent. Thus the TV companies have got round the 'direct statement'
part of the broadcasting ban.

>Convention on Human Rights. Sinn Fein claimed that its political opponents were
>given an electoral advantage since it had no right to reply to verbal attacks--
>and this would encourage disinformation. 

No, this is wrong - the ban is dropped when an election is called and Sinn Fein
are free to make any public statements or respond to any verbal attacks via
TV media so there's no political advantage for the opposition at this time.
(Of course much depends on whether the local media themselves want to cover it)

>The party cited the decrease in
>inquires to the Belfast Republican Press Centre from broadcasting authorities
>affected by the ban--from 471 in the four month before to its imposition 10 110
>in the following four months.

Yes, but this wasn't during election times and the four months prior to the
imposition to the ban would have the media flocking to them for their reaction
to the announcement of the imminent ban. Look at the number of enquiries in
the previous year before the ban was even thought of for a more realistic
figure.

>which the ban 'has limited effect', is viewed as a political sop to those who
>oppose the measure and n no way compensates for lack of media exposure and
>the promotion of political policies at any time. Because the Representation of the

Ahhh...but the use of TV to promote political policies is no where near that
in the US and is extremely curtailed anyway. All parties are allocated a
short time for broadcasting in proportion to the numbers of votes they gained
at previous elections with a minimum of 1 election broadcast. Advertising via
the commercial channels as happens in the US is prohibited here and that
applies to ALL political parties in the whole of the UK.
Incidently the ban doesn't apply to newspapers, only TV and Radio.

Good article all the same.

Dave
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