Two Sinn Féin Assembly members to stand down early from Stormont

Two Derry Sinn Féin Assembly members, who have already announced they would not be standing in next May’s Stormont elections, have now said they will be stepping down from their posts in the coming weeks.

Following what was described as a “root and branch” overhaul of the party in Derry in May, veteran republican and former IRA prisoner Martina Anderson along with fellow MLA Karen Mullan said they would not be contesting the next Assembly elections.

The move, several republican and other sources said, was prompted by local discontent and concerns that Sinn Féin might lose one of its two seats in the five-seater constituency and also by a general anxiety that the party was losing popularity to the SDLP in the city.

The demotion of such a senior figure as Ms Anderson caused surprise. She was imprisoned in 1986 for conspiring to cause explosions in Britain.

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She was released in 1998 under the early release terms of the Belfast Agreement. She served eight years as an MEP and also was a junior Minister in the Northern Executive.

‘Publicly humiliated’

Ms Anderson made no public complaint about being effectively dropped but in May her family claimed that she was the victim of a “miscarriage of justice”.

On Facebook her sister Sharon said she had been “publicly humiliated” by the party while adding, “The British could not do to our Martina what her comrades and friends have done”.

On Tuesday, the Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said that Ms Anderson and Ms Mullan, rather than remaining in position until May would be resigning before the new Assembly term begins on September 13th.

This move is to allow Sinn Féin to co-opt and bed in new MLAs before the May elections. The party has not announced who it will be putting forward as the new MLAs.

There has been speculation that one of the late Martin McGuinness’s four children, Fiachra, could be co-opted but it remains unclear whether he has any interest in a political career.

“Karen and Martina have now told me it is their intention to step away from the Assembly before the beginning of the new term,” said Ms McDonald.

She paid tribute to the two outgoing MLAs and said that Ms Anderson and Ms Mullan would continue to have “leading” positions in the party.

“Martina Anderson will be taking on a new international role for the party in Europe promoting the case for Irish unity,” said Ms McDonald while Ms Mullan “will be taking on a new regional role in the north west strengthening cross-border co-ordination between the party’s TDs, MLAs, MPs and council groups”.

Again there was no complaint from Ms Anderson. She said she had “decided to take up my new role immediately to give the newly selected candidates an opportunity to establish themselves as public representatives in advance of the next Assembly election”.

Of her new post she said, “Like everything I have done I will give it my all to achieve the reunification of Ireland so the people of this island can have a future together within the EU”.

Ms McDonald said she will be in Derry on Thursday where that night nominations will open to select replacement candidates. A selection convention will be held in Derry on September 8th.