SINN FEIN and the SDLP have released separate proposals for a new era of power-sharing on Belfast City Council. Negotiations are taking place between various parties to agree on a mayor, who will be elected at the first meeting of the incoming council on Monday night.
Unionists lost overall control of City Hall in last week's local government elections. Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance hold 26 seats against a combined total of 25 for the Ulster Unionist Party, the Democratic Unionist Party and the fringe loyalists.
Sinn Fein is the joint largest party on the council, but it is not believed that the SDLP or Alliance would support a republican mayor in the absence of an IRA ceasefire.
However, there is speculation that the UUP, the SDLP and Alliance will join forces to elect an SDLP mayor. It would be the first time that a nationalist has held the post. The most likely candidate is Councillor Alban Maginness. The deputy lord mayor would most likely be a unionist.
The SDLP yesterday published a document outlining 10 principles for a new "partnership" on the council. The leader of the party's City H.all group, Mr Martin Morgan, said: "Last week's election changed the face of politics on Belfast City Council. For the first time in its history, the combined unionist parties do not have a majority. The tribalism of the past need not become the engine for the future. The SDLP believes there is a real opportunity for change. This council, the last of the 20th century, can continue the process of rebuilding Belfast. We are interested in agreeing a system of government based on a partnership between the political traditions in the city."
Mr Morgan proposed that the posts of mayor and deputy mayor be rotated between nationalists and unionists and that the appointment of committee chairs and deputy chairs and appointments to outside bodies be made on the basis of proportionality.
However, SDLP sources said that the party could not support Sinn Fein candidates for the posts of mayor or deputy mayor because the IRA had still not called a ceasefire. The Alliance is also believed to be refusing to support Sinn Fein on the same grounds.
A Sinn Fein councillor, Mr Alex Maskey, said that such positions were unfair. IRA activities bore no relation to the proceedings of Belfast City Council, he stated.
He acknowledged that both the SDLP and Alliance were likely to unite with the UUP to exclude his party from the top council positions. But he added: "Sinn Fein is the joint largest party at City Hall. We won three new seats in last week's election and we have 13 councillors, more than twice as many as Alliance and nearly double the number of the SDLP. These parties cannot lock us out forever.
"Thirty thousand people in this city voted for us that is more votes than any other party secured. Unionist domination cannot be replaced by other forms of domination."
Mr Maskey proposed that all council posts, including that of mayor, be rotated between the parties on the principle of proportionality.
"Every party on the council should have access to every post on the council. If we had a formal system installed, it would prevent haggling every year, and the power games that we are currently witnessing would be a thing of the past.