THE possibility of an SDLP Sinn Fein pre election pact is foundering after republicans rejected the two main conditions proposed by Mr John Hume for a voting arrangement.
Laying out the terms for a pact between the two nationalist parties, the SDLP leader yesterday said there must be a complete end to IRA violence and that Sinn Fein must cease its policy of abstentionism at Westminster.
However, the SDLP's first demand was dismissed by republican sources who said last night there was "no evidence" that the IRA was considering a ceasefire, nor would there be any movement to change the long standing policy of refusing to take seats in the House of Commons, though Sinn Fein dropped a similar abstentionist stance in relation to the Dail in 1986. Altering the policy on abstentionism would require the support of a two thirds majority at an ardfheis.
In an article in the Sunday Independent, Mr Hume also queried Sinn Fein's motivation in fighting for seats in a parliament which the party did not recognise and he suggested that it abstain from general elections altogether if it could not jettison its abstentionist policy.
Responding to Mr Hume's article, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said yesterday it was preposterous" to suggest that his party should "stand aside" for the SDLP.
"Many Sinn Fein representatives paid with their lives for the right to represent the republican and nationalist electorate. Given the rejection by the SDLP of any feasible electoral arrangement, we are duty bound to give voters the opportunity to endorse Sinn Fein's analysis and leadership in all constituencies in the forthcoming British general election."
Most nationalists would be disappointed that the SDLP leadership had "ruled out involvement in any realistic strategy to reverse the anomaly of unionists misrepresenting nationalist constituencies". However, it was also very important that Irish politicians "should not exaggerate the value of attendance in the London parliament", he said.
According to Mr Adams, his talks with Mr Hume on the peace process will continue. Yesterday's article undoubtedly marked the beginning of the British general election campaign "between our two parties ... and we will of course in our individual and party way seek to increase our parties' standing," Mr Adams said.
Adding that it was "a pity" the SDLP's rejection of electoral pacts did not extend to its West Belfast constituency, the Sinn Fein leader said Dr Joe Hendron won this seat in the last election as a result of an electoral pact with loyalists - "and while he has been most vitriolic in ruling out any arrangements to maximise nationalist representation, he has taken a totally contrary view in relation to his own narrow self interest."
Mr Hume said that all commentators who had speculated about the possibility of electoral pacts between the SDLP and Sinn Fein had missed the main point - "the gross unfairness of the British electoral system". Since the foundation of the Northern Ireland state, the nationalist community there had been consistently under represented at Westminster.
Asking how a policy of "neutralising" representation rather than maximising it could fit into a strategy of seeking a negotiated settlement through the democratic political process, Mr Hume inquired whether Sinn Fein's real target was unionism or the SDLP.
"Is their concern really to maximise nationalist representation or - is it rather to win partisan advantage within the nationalist community by exploiting nationalist frustration?" he asked.
Sinn Fein sources last night denied that the party was targeting the SDLP.
Meanwhile, the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, said he regretted that Sinn Fein did not seem to be working towards peace in the way that he would have wished. He did not see the logic of placing a 1,000 lb bomb and Sinn Fein did not seem to be able to deliver peace "in their own system".