Anti-accord vote will be down, Trimble predicts

Parties opposed to the Belfast Agreement will not repeat their referendum performance and will be lucky to get more than 20 per cent in today's Assembly poll, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party has said.

Mr David Trimble was speaking at his party's final press conference of the election campaign yesterday. He urged unionists to vote for those "who will work the Assembly, not those who will wreck it," to ensure they get the maximum benefit for the new arrangements.

Asked to predict the number of seats his party would win, he said he had yet to hear the final position from his chief adviser, "but I am prepared to say the No campaign will not be at 28.8 per cent.

"They won't be at 25 per cent either, and if they get significantly more than 20 per cent, they can consider themselves fortunate."

One of those who accompanied Mr Trimble on the platform, Mr Jim Rogers, said he was "totally behind" his party leader, although he had admitted he had not supported the agreement in a vote of Belfast City Council.

A candidate in East Belfast, Mr Rogers said he had abstained on the council vote. "As a very religious person, I had a conscience problem with aspects of the agreement, but I am totally behind the leader's line," he said.

On the question of Sinn Fein's involvement in the Assembly executive, Mr Trimble said he was "still waiting for Gerry Adams to say the words and do the deeds" on decommissioning.

However, Sinn Fein's chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, accused Mr Trimble of "prevaricating" on the issue and challenged him to tell the electorate of his intentions.

"Will David Trimble let the people know if he is prepared to promote inclusiveness in the Assembly and development of the all-Ireland institutions to their full potential?" he asked.

The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, appealed to people to vote in record numbers for his party but, he urged them, after voting for all the local SDLP candidates, to continue preferences in support of pro-agreement candidates.

"You must remember that every preference counts," he said. "You can elect SDLP candidates with your first, second, third and fourth preferences and you can stop the wreckers with your ninth preference."

Speaking at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, the Ulster Unionist MP, Mr John Taylor, called on the people of Northern Ireland to grasp a future "in which they will be at ease with each other and Northern Ireland will be at ease with all its neighbours, including he Republic of Ireland".

In a separate statement, he also urged voters to turn out before tonight's World Cup match involving Germany. "I call upon all the people of Northern Ireland to put country before Germany and make sure you vote before the World Cup game," he said.

A DUP candidate in West Tyrone, Mr Oliver Gibson, predicted that Sinn Fein would engage in widespread personation in the constituency. He called on anti-agreement candidates to be extra-vigilant.

"We all know that the practice of deceit was responsible for the IRA-Sinn Fein taking control of the Mid-Ulster constituency," he claimed.

Polling stations open today at 7 a.m. and close at 10 p.m.