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Editor's Viewpoint: Democratic deficit of a different kind

Democracy is a gift which every society should cherish. It enables people to choose freely who will govern them.

It also allows politicians of widely differing viewpoints - sometimes even deeply unpopular viewpoints - to test their policies before the electorate. That is how the General Election in most of the UK will pan out. All the major parties will contest virtually every seat in an effort to gain enough votes to form the next government.

But here in Northern Ireland, politics are played by slightly different rules. Witness the shoddy deals in Fermanagh/South Tyrone and in South Belfast. In the border constituency the unionist parties have agreed on a single candidate in a bid to wrest the seat from Sinn Fein. In South Belfast, Sinn Fein are standing aside to give the SDLP's sitting MP, Alasdair McDonnell a greater chance of victory.

Those two seats are examples of tribal, sectarian politics at their worst. The interests of voters are being treated as secondary to the fortunes of the unionist or nationalist blocs. The voters in both constituencies are not being given a free choice to determine who their next MP will be. Instead they are being encouraged to vote either nationalist or unionist. Both contests are being turned into simple sectarian headcounts.

Northern Ireland is supposed to be entering a new, more mature political era. Yet the Orange and Green cards are still being played. Voters are being urged to support candidates, not on their policies, but on whether they are nationalist or unionist.

This election should be about issues such as how to stimulate the economy; lower the national debt; how to provide a first class education system and tackle unemployment. Those are the issues voters in other parts of the UK will be pondering. But here voters are being asked simply to consider which tribe they belong to. That simply is not good enough and is a denial of democracy.

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