NOBODY loves the British government's proposals for the Northern Ireland election but they could just work. They offer a way for the parties to get around the negotiating table on June 10th even if it is by a previously untrodden path.
Described by the critics as a "dog's breakfast", a "monster raving loony" idea and a "Rubic cube type election", the proposals were defended by John Major as a "fair and balanced system". He made the reasonable point that as the systems that the parties themselves put forward were in "flat contradiction to the express views of one or other of the main communities", his government had to come up with something else, hence its complexity.
But the voters will have a simple choice: put the X beside the party of your choice.
Much of the criticism from the nationalist side - SDLP and Sinn Fein - is directed at the accompanying proposal for an elected forum which would run in parallel with the all party negotiations. As they point out, this is a sop to the unionist parties which hunger for an elected assembly. But this forum is also a million miles away from the Stormont the nationalists hated. It would only be a sideshow to the real action.
The waspish response by the SDLP deputy leader, Seamus Mallon, to the proposals stung Mr Major into a rebuke that the party had not been exactly helpful in the discussions on an elective process. The SDLP must feel disappointed that Mr John Hume's proposal for a referendum on non violence in advance of the negotiations has now been long fingered by Mr Major. But there will still be referendums North and South on the results of the negotiations.
The Government is making clear its lack of enthusiasm for the formula but it badly wants Sinn Fein to be around the table. The Government never wanted an election and does not see much point in a forum, although it is modelled to some degree on its own Forum for Peace and Reconciliation.
The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, has pointedly refused to "welcome" the British proposals and insists that it is now up to the Northern parties to consider the "whole package" on offer.
But Dublin must acknowledge that forum or no forum, the hybrid election delivers on the pledge of the joint communique of February 28th to offer "a viable direct and speedy route to all party negotiations".
Immediately after the election on May 30th, the parties which have achieved representation will be invited by the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, to select their negotiating teams no later than June 3rd. Both governments will establish their own teams at the same time.
The exception to this procedure is Sinn Fein. While the party can stand in the election whether the IRA declares a ceasefire or not, it will only be invited to the negotiating table in the event of "an unequivocal restoration of the ceasefire of August 1994".
Sinn Fein will now be the focus of attention. All the other parties are virtually certain to accept the odd electoral system but Sinn Fein has yet to give a full reaction.
Initial reactions from its president, Gerry Adams, and chairman, Mitchel McLaughlin, were negative but did not rule out eventual participation in the election. Their reticence is understandable seeing that the IRA has the decisive voice on whether Sina Fein gets to the negotiating table. But the reactions of the party ardfheis this weekend will be eagerly studied for clues.
Mr Major's proposals yesterday were vague on the agenda for the negotiations which will "address comprehensively all the relevant relationships in an interlocking three stranded process". The bogy word "decommissioning was not mentioned but implied in the reference to the "ground rules" published at the end of last week.
They laid down that all parties at the beginning of the negotiations would have to accept the Mitchell Report principles on democracy and non violence. In addition they would have "to address" the report's proposals on decommissioning. But interestingly, Mr Major added that the ground rules document has still only "consultative" status and consultations are continuing on it.
While there is no doubt that the obligation to "address" decommissioning will not change, there is still scope for Sinn Fein to get clarification on what this really means. The ground rules tried to spell out that the opening session would not be a one issue agenda and that it will "include all the significant items" which the various teams consider relevant.
The unionists are interpreting the "addressing" of decommissioning in a hardline way that is at odds with the normal meaning of the word. As Mr Spring said yesterday, address means address.
This is now a more vital issue than the elective process which is cleverly designed to make the negotiations as "inclusive" as possible. The negotiations can go ahead without Sinn Fein, like those of four years ago. But as the former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, then calculated, there can be little chance of success if violence is still continuing, hence his parallel "peace process" involving Gerry Adams and John Hume.
What is needed now is an all out effort to get Sinn Fein to the negotiating table but how this can be done between now and June 10th is far from clear.