SDLP DEPUTY leader Alasdair McDonnell will today formally announce he is to contest the party leadership.
The South Belfast MP will make his announcement and outline his campaign in a speech that he says will be directed at the grassroots of the party.
Mark Durkan is to stand down as leader after eight years at next February’s annual conference.
Dr McDonnell will fight South Down Assembly member and social development minister Margaret Ritchie for the leadership and it is virtually certain no other candidate will emerge.
Nominations will be formally invited next week and will close on November 14th.
Ms Ritchie, the party’s sole member of the Stormont Executive, announced two weeks ago against expectations that she would stand. She claimed she would offer the party membership “a comprehensive plan for renewal of the party and an exciting vision”. Ms Ritchie has emerged with an enhanced reputation within the party since taking her position in the Executive and has long been viewed as the likely contender for the South Down parliamentary seat when Eddie McGrady stands down.
However he has indicated so far that he is willing to defend his seat he first won in 1987 in next year’s Westminster poll.
Dr McDonnell will use his speech today to present himself as “the right leader at the right time”. He will concentrate on what he says are the pressing needs for organisational reform and a concerted effort to address the party’s finances.
The Irish Times understands he will state he is no longer prepared to accept a secondary position for the SDLP behind Sinn Féin and the DUP. He will also deny there are any easy solutions, blueprints or quick fixes to the party’s problems.