It would be an outrage if the British government were to pull at the last minute plans for an Assembly election in Northern Ireland, a Democratic Unionist candidate claimed today.
As the midnight deadline for the dissolution of the Northern Ireland Assembly approached, Mr Alex Easton argued that it would be "an assault on democracy" if Northern Ireland Secretary Mr Paul Murphy were to postpone the vote for a second time because of the failure to achieve a breakthrough in the peace process.
"We have now reached the point where the British government is seriously contemplating cancelling elections in this part of the United Kingdom because they fear what the result might be," the North Down DUP candidate said.
"So desperate are they to keep (Ulster Unionist leader) David Trimble and his cronies in power and to keep the concessions to Sinn Fein/IRA coming that they are prepared to subjugate any concept of democracy for politically cynical reasons.
"Northern Ireland is not some sort of coconut colony in which the Northern Ireland Office mandarins can do as they please.
"We are full citizens of the United Kingdom and must be treated as such. To deny people a vote in a free and fair election is tantamount to establishing a dictatorship of one man - namely the Prime Minister."