SOUTH Down MP Margaret Ritchie is confident the SDLP can hold its three Westminster seats in what is arguably the party's most crucial ever general election.
In its Derry citadel and South Down stronghold the SDLP is being threatened by an ascendant Sinn Féin, while Alasdair McDonnell's South Belfast seat is vulnerable from a number of challengers.
Mr McDonnell has long conceded that his seat is "borrowed", and the 906 majority with which he won in 2015's general election only served to reinforce this notion. The South Belfast result for the last Westminster poll set an unusual record as the victorious SDLP MP's 24.5 per cent share of the vote was the smallest proportion a winning candidate has ever achieved in a general election.
Last night, the 67-year-old former GP confirmed he would be putting his name forward for selection to fight the seat on June 8.
"South Belfast needs strong representation in Westminster, from someone who will fight for special status for Northern Ireland on a pro-European Union platform," he said.
"I am up for this challenge and will fight tirelessly as I have done in previous elections and indeed in last June's EU Referendum for the people of South Belfast."
In its leader Colum Eastwood's home constituency of Foyle, the SDLP was out-voted in last month's assembly election for the first time. Sinn Féin's two Stormont candidates polled nearly 18,000 first preference votes between them, while the SDLP managed just over 14,000. While the voting systems for Stormont and Westminster elections are different – proportional representation versus first past the post – the margin between the two parties makes Sinn Féin clear favourite to take the seat from former SDLP leader Mark Durkan, whose 2015 general election majority was just over 6,000.
Similarly in South Down, Sinn Féin's candidates outpolled the SDLP's on March 2 by more than 6,000 first preference votes. Similar voting patterns on June 8 would surely see Margaret Ritchie, another former leader, ousted from the seat she has held since 2010, when she succeeded Eddie McGrady as the constituency's MP.
Ms Ritchie told The Irish News last night that she planned to put her name forward for selection and was confident that if successful she and her two SDLP colleagues would be returned to Westminster.
"I would be absolutely confident of winning because I will be campaigning on my record of service and delivery since 2010," she said.
"Mark and Alasdair will retain their seats as well and we will fight this election on the basis of opposing Tory Brexit plans and all the negative consequences leaving the EU spells for Ireland."
Commentator Chris Donnelly said the SDLP "should have enough to hold South Belfast" though he expects to Sinn Féin to "seriously consider" not running in the constituency if a unionist unity candidate emerges.
"Elsewhere, the battle within nationalism will be intriguing given that, for the first time ever, Sinn Féin will enter the contest as the lead nationalist party in the two SDLP heartland constituencies of Foyle and South Down," he said.
"The SDLP would still be favoured to hold both seats on current vote levels due to unionist tactical voting, and Sinn Féin to think outside the box in terms of candidate selection in both constituencies if they are to have any credible hope of making the decisive breakthrough."
