15/02/2017

UUP Councillor Quits In Second-Preference Vote Dispute

Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon County Councillor, Carol Black, has resigned from the Ulster Unionist Party in a dispute over second-preference votes.

Ms Black, who beat the DUP in a Dromore by-election in 2008, said that she was stepping down from the party after leader Mike Nesbitt said that he would give his second-preference vote to the SDLP in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Announcing her resignation on Tuesday, 14 February, Ms Black said that the whole ethos of the Ulster Unionist Party "has been destroyed".

Mr Nesbitt has received widespread criticism after stating that he wouldn't give his second-preference vote to another unionist party. However, he stressed that this was a personal decision and not party policy. He said that other UUP members could vote as they wished.

Voters are due to go to the polls to elect a new Stormont Assembly on 02 March.

(MH/JP)

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