NICHOLA Mallon has urged the electorate to vote for a party that "will share power out of generosity – not out of spite".
Speaking yesterday at her party's conference in Co Derry, the SDLP deputy leader said it was "time to change who is in charge".
The SDLP is running 22 candidates in the May 5 election, defending 12 Stormont seats.
The North Belfast MLA said elections in the north were "deliberately reduced to a sectarian headcount".
"And this election is set to be no different with the DUP leading the charge on trying to scare people and dictate how they use all their transfers," she said.
"But by now I expect nothing more from a leader and party who expect the world to revolve around their irrational positioning and mood swings, and merely reacts to the loudest loyalist voice on social media – the truth is for DUP voters - vote Jeffrey’s party and get Jamie Bryson politics."
The infrastructure minister said the public was facing a "crippling cost of living crisis, without a government".
"And once again the self-serving, fake electoral fight to be first minister is being conjured up to con people to the polls when the joint first ministers both know full well, that neither one of them can sign off anything without the other’s say so regardless of the title above their door," she said.
"We all know the truth – they are two sides of the same coin and their partnership has failed, failed for 15 years. And it's time we ended this cycle of failure."
