Word: unionists
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...checked into a psychiatric hospital. But much more is at stake over the next six weeks than the couple's political careers: the scandal comes at a critical time for the province's shaky power-sharing agreement. For months, the two biggest parties in government, Robinson's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is mostly supported by Protestants, and the Catholic Sinn Fein, have been at loggerheads over the devolution of policing and justice powers from London. Sinn Fein wants control over the police to be transferred to Belfast to end what it perceives as a pro-Protestant bias. But many...
...teenager two years ago. Then came the allegations that she had obtained $80,000 from two property developers to help her lover set up a café and that Peter Robinson, upon learning of the deal, failed to report it. Now that the Evangelical base of Robinson's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has had time to digest the lurid headlines, the political fallout begins...
...apart, which would trigger new elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. And this may not be good for the DUP. The party's traditional base - rural Evangelical Protestants - has been rocked by Iris Robinson's affair, which may cause some voters to drift toward the anti-power-sharing Traditional Unionist Voice Party or the more moderate Ulster Unionist Party, which recently forged an alliance with the British Conservative Party. "The DUP grass roots is in shock [over the affair], and the party is denying reality if they think it won't be electorally disastrous," Graham says. (Read "Mrs. Robinson: Northern...
...most worrisome outcome for the DUP would be if a three-way split of the Protestant vote allowed Sinn Fein to emerge as Northern Ireland's biggest political party. That potential power swing and the inevitable friction between Sinn Fein and rival Unionist groups could see political progress grind to a halt. Such an outcome would also be a disaster for Peter Robinson, who for almost 30 years has carefully steered the DUP away from the firebrand populism of its founder, the Rev. Ian Paisley, to its current position at the top of Northern Irish politics. If he fails...
...aspects of my wife's affair and her financial arrangements, I will be resolutely defending attacks on my character and contesting any allegations of wrongdoing." But that hasn't stopped his opponents from pondering whether he'll continue to have a political future. Reg Empey, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, has called for an investigation into the claims, describing the revelations as being of "deep concern to all those concerned with the integrity of political life and the democratic process." (Read "Belfast's Paisley Loses His Flock...