SDLP urges tactical voting against DUP

The SDLP has appealed to pro-agreement unionist voters to break with traditional voting patterns and use their transfers to support nationalist parties and prevent the DUP from making electoral gains.

The former SDLP deputy leader, Mr Séamus Mallon, yesterday said the survival of the Belfast Agreement would depend on six or seven key constituencies.

He said the DUP was threatening to "smash" 30 years of political progress in Northern Ireland if it became the biggest voice in unionism and he appealed to both communities to consider crossing old barriers when they go into the polling booths on November 26th.

"I ask unashamedly pro-agreement unionists in those areas to transfer to SDLP candidates so we can create an executive and make the political process work," he said. "Give the DUP a damn sore jaw and a very bloody nose."

While much focus had centred on the battle between the SDLP and Sinn Féin for seats, Mr Mallon said final seat battles between his party and the DUP in about half a dozen constituencies would be crucial to the overall outcome of the election.

Mr Mallon said that if the DUP overtook the Ulster Unionists, it would immediately seek to destroy the agreement by insisting that it was renegotiated.

He also asked pro-agreement voters in nationalist communities to transfer to pro-agreement unionist parties to save the peace process.

The SDLP's policing spokesman, Mr Alex Attwood, also said the party's support for the policing board had resulted in significant progress such as increased accountability for the police, a reduction in crime levels and more Catholics seeking to join the force.

"None of this would have happened if the SDLP had not joined the policing board. All of this happened despite the fact that Sinn Féin handed their seats on the board over to anti-Patten unionists," Mr Attwood said.