NORTHERN IRELAND: ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY TO PICK NEW LEADER

(8 Sep 1995) English/Nat

The Ulster Unionist party in Northern Ireland will pick a new leader Friday evening to take the majority Protestant community of the British-ruled province's into a new era.

The result of the election could affect the province's shaky progress towards peace.

The frontrunner is among those leadership candidates who say they would exclude Sinn Fein from the talks unless the IRA's political wing decommissions its weapons.

The Ulster Unionist party is the main vehicle for Northern Ireland's beleaguered Protestants, who want to keep the province as part of the United Kingdom.

The Ulster Unionists ruling council in Belfast will select a new leader from five candidates to replace James Molyneaux who resigned last week after 16 years in the party's top job.

Fifty-eight-year-old John Taylor is the analysts' favourite.

He is the candidate regarded as the most likely to strike a deal with the nationalists - mainly Catholics who want the province reintegrated with the Irish Republic in the south.

Taylor believes that the south's government, based in Dublin, needs to play a part in the peace process.

SOUNDBITE:
"Well obviously, the first thing is for us to sit back and reexamine our policies, to confirm our position within the party and then to enter into dialogue because that's what politics is about. And we must enter into dialogue with government - whether it's Labour or Conservative - we must enter into dialogue with the political parties in Northern Ireland which reject violence on a permanent basis - and that obviously means at the present moment that we exclude Sinn Fein. And we can enter into dialogue with the Dublin government which represents the southern part of Ireland, which is a neighbour of ours - but only on matters of cooperation between Northern Ireland and southern Ireland. In now way would I talk to Dublin about the internal affairs of this part of the United Kingdom."
SUPER CAPTION: John Taylor MP, Ulster Unionist Leadership Candidate

Fifty-eight year-old Ken Maginnis is the most liberal of the candidates standing.

The media-friendly former teacher and part-time policeman is well liked in Dublin.

Maginnis believes the IRA should hand over its weapons before coming to the negotiating table.

SOUNDBITE:
"I think that I would leave no doubt in the minds of Sinn Fein, IRA, as to what I feel about the possession of tonnes upon tonnes of weapons. There would be no doubt in their minds that I would not capitulate on that particular issue, but that if they made the quantum leap from the mould of terrorism into the democratic process then I would be able to help to incorporate them in that process and ensure that - according to their electoral support - they had their proper place."
SUPER CAPTION: Ken Maginnis, Ulster Unionist Leadership Candidate

The vote by the 860 members of the Ulster Unionist's council at Belfast's Ulster Hall on Friday evening could dramatically quicken the increasingly sluggish journey to peace.

However, few believe that there will be a sudden shift of direction and the cautious Ulster Unionists are forever wary of playing into the hands of the Reverend Ian Paisley's rival hard-line Democratic Unionist Party.

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