Adams nominates archrival to lead Northern Ireland

The Associated Press reports that Mr. Adams, the president of the Sinn Féin party, nominated Paisley, the head of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), during meetings meant to restart Northern Ireland's devolved government, which has been defunct since October 2002.

The assembly speaker, Eileen Bell, asked the 80-year-old Protestant evangelist: "Dr. Paisley, do you accept the nomination as first minister on restoration of a devolved government?" The Protestant benches of Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party, the largest in the assembly, loudly guffawed and heckled.

"Certainly not, madam!" Paisley said. "And I think it goes without saying that the reasons are known well throughout this province, and they've been endorsed by the majority of (Protestant) unionist voters."

Paisley and the DUP have long refused to participate in a government with Sinn Féin, which, through its ties to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), they accuse of criminal and terrorist activities, reports The New York Times. Paisley reiterated those accusations Monday as he rejected the power-sharing plan.

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"We are glad this charade is over," Paisley said after the assembly sitting at which he refused Adams's nomination. "We are coming down to the reality of the situation. Are we going to have in the government of Northern Ireland those who are terrorists, those that condone and even plan murders, who rob banks, who carry on criminal activities and who will not support the police?"

"The answer of Ulster is No," Paisley said. "They have to do the changing, not us. They have to say, 'Yes, we will bow the knee and do what is right.' And it doesn't seem to me that there is the least sign of Sinn Fein going to do what is right by the people of Ulster."

Adams said, for his part, he was trying to help restart the government, an objective being pushed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Adams also questioned Paisley's dedication to that effort.

[Adams said:] "What you saw today was an effort by us to get what everyone wants - that is the formation of an executive. We will return to this with all speed. ...

"Understandably there is a lot of skepticism about whether Ian Paisley will ever lead his Democratic Unionist Party into the executive with the rest of us," Adams said at a news conference.

Since the IRA announced it would start disarming in July 2005, there has been a renewed push from the Irish and British governments to restart Northern Ireland's devolution. The two governments set a deadline of November 24 before which the executive at Stormont must be restarted. If the deadline is not met, the two governments will attempt to directly implement the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland peace plan reached in 1998.

Kevin Connolly, the Ireland correspondent for the BBC, writes in an analysis piece that although Adams's nomination of Paisley would have been unthinkable a decade ago, it's now a savvy political move.

Tactically, this was smart stuff from Gerry Adams. He knows the electoral arithmetic of Northern Ireland means that the first minister must come from the largest party - and that's Dr Paisley's DUP.

In putting forward the nomination himself, he put a statesmanlike gloss on the inevitable - and he also smoked out Dr Paisley - establishing on the record that it's the DUP and not Sinn Fein which remains unwilling to share power.

Not that anyone was in any doubt of that.

In a commentary, Henry McDonald, the Belfast correspondent for the Observer (sister paper of the Guardian), writes that despite the opportunity to be Northern Ireland's top politician, Paisley had no choice but to spurn Adams's nomination.

Paisley knows he is the unassailable head of unionism today - a life long and for decades frustrated ambition - because he hasn't been willing to share power with Sinn Fein. The prospect of going back into government with the IRA's political wing, even when the IRA has gone out of business, is repellent amongst that unionist constituency ... at least for now.

Mr. McDonald noted that Paisley's position as the "unassailable head of unionism" has been strengthened in recent weeks via a failed power play by the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the DUP's main unionist rival. In an attempt to strengthen its hand, the UUP attempted to absorb David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) into its ranks, despite Ervine and the PUP having strong ties to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary gang.

The UUP's reasoning was that by taking Ervine into their group the party is now the second largest and thus can get three ministerial seats as opposed to two for Sinn Fein. In fact, the move has spectacularly backfired on the UUP. A stream of Protestant victims of relatively recent UVF violence have come forward in the media to denounce what they have labelled as a piece of immoral opportunism. Senior UUP figures and some external advisers concede the Ervine trick has been a self-inflicted wound. If anything, the UUP's disarray over the controversy strengthens Paisley's Democratic Unionists even further.

In turn, the DUP in this situation no longer has to look over its shoulder to its unionist rivals. If and when it chooses to move closer towards restoring devolution, it won't have to worry about criticism from the rival unionist party.

However, there seems to be some confusion within the DUP itself about its position on moving forward. The Belfast Telegraph reports that after the failed nomination, Peter Hain, the British secretary of state overseeing devolution, announced his intention to create a committee, made of representatives from the major Northern Irish parties, to examine the obstacles to devolution.

However, the BBC reports that the DUP issued several contradictory responses to Mr. Hain's plan. During a press conference, Paisley condemned the plan, insisting that he wouldn't sit in a committee with Sinn Féin or the UUP because they "had links to paramilitaries." However, Peter Robinson, Paisley's deputy, stated during the same press conference that the DUP does sit already in committees with the parties, and that the DUP's concern was over the committee's mandate.

Further DUP statements supported Mr. Robinson's explanation, which caused confusion over Paisley's stance, which Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness called "bizarre" and UUP leader Sir Reg Empey suggested was a sign that the DUP was at "sixes and sevens."

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