Hendron claims SF cheated as it wins 4 of 5 West Belfast seats

THE SDLP MP for West Belfast has alleged that "massive votestealing" contributed to Sinn Fein's performance in the constituency in yesterday's elections.

Sinn Fein's huge vote - 22,355 - gave the party four of the five seats for West Belfast, leaving Dr Joe Hendron as the sole SDLP representative.

But Dr Hendron claimed there had been large scale personal ion by Sinn Fein voters, involving the alleged exchange and forgery of medical cards, which are accepted at polling stations as proof of identity.

"There was massive vote-stealing right across West Belfast " he said, speaking yesterday afternoon before the final count was announced. "The medical card thing is a joke - you can use my medical card and I can use yours. And there were many false medical cards used." He declined to estimate how many votes had been cast in this way but said the number was "very substantial". Asked if he believed it had cost the SDLP a seat yesterday, he said this was a possibility.

Sinn Fein's vote represented just over three quotas, with the SDLP getting a little over 1.5. But under the method used to allocate seats other than those won directly on the quota, Sinn Fein took the last seat from the SDLP by 45 votes. Dr Hendron said he had previously complained to the Secretary of State about the misuse of medical cards.

Sinn Fein president Mr Gerry Adams, who lost his West Belfast seat to Dr Hendron at the last general election, dismissed the allegations. He was not interested in "post election wrangling", he said, adding Dr Hendron had previously faced a charge in relation to an election, a reference to the aftermath of the bitter 1992 general election campaign.

Mr Adams held the West Belfast seat before the general election. He lost it to Dr Hendron in a campaign which culminated in a High Court attempt by Sinn Fein to have the result overturned on the grounds of alleged overspending by the Hendron camp.

The SDLP polled 17,415 votes in the 1992 election, compared with 16,826 for Sinn Fein. It was accepted that tactical voting by unionists had helped Dr Hendron win the seat. He admitted disappointment with yesterday's result, saying that the SDLP vote "just didn't come out". He believed traditional SDLP supporters had switched to Sinn Fein, but he had congratulated Mr Adams on his party's performance.