Allister raises "trojan candidate" issue in Brussels
03 December 2008
Statement by TUV MEP Jim Allister
"With the DUP due to select its vote-splitting candidate on 22 January and as they are key proponents of the intended change in the law to outlaw by-elections in Northern Ireland to the European Parliament, and instead allow a resigning member to be replaced by a party placeman, I took the opportunity of a debate in the Constitutional Affairs Committee on the mechanics of future EP elections, to raise the Trojan candidate issue.
Generally, MEPs were astounded that in any part of the EU it would be possible to replace an elected member by a party hack, who the electorate had never known could become their MEP. Yet, this is precisely what is proposed for Northern Ireland. If the legislative amendment goes through, then, one person can be elected as the MEP and replaced immediately, or at any time, by the nominee of his/her Party Leader, without that person's name every having gone before the electorate, even on a 'B' list.
Even historically in Eastern Europe at its worst, there was seldom such scant regard for the democratic process."
