European Interest

Northern Ireland: the battle between Brexiteers and pro-EU forces

Flickr/GUE/NGL/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Martina Anderson, who is Sinn Féin's candidate for the European Parliament, has been an MEP since 2012.

The DUP and Sinn Féin have launched their election manifestos for the 2019 European elections in Northern Ireland. Both parties are hoping to retain one seat each in the European Parliament.

The Democratic Unionist Party launched its European election manifesto on Monday, May 13 at Seaview football stadium in north Belfast. The DUP’s leader Arlene Foster, Diane Dodds, who is the current MEP of the party as well as the other party candidates for the European Parliament attended the meeting.

Foster said that Theresa May‘s post-Brexit vision for the country is catastrophic and she declared against another Brexit vote.

As reported by BBC the DUP leader said: “What people want to see is democracy being respected. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been respected and we have a remain parliament, therefore parliament has not been able to deliver on Brexit in the way it should have been delivered upon.”

In the other side of the Northern Irish political spectrum, Sinn Féin says vote for the Europe Parliament can be a response to Brexiteers. The party launched its electoral manifesto at the Waterfront Hall.

Party leader Mary Lou McDonald urged voters to back Martina Anderson, Sinn Féin’s candidate for the European Parliament. Anderson has been an MEP since 2012.

Sinn Féin supports Irish unity and proposes more transparency and human rights protection at EU level.

The election is due to take place on 23 May, with counting to begin the following Monday, after voting across the 28 EU countries ends.

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