THE mother of BBC NI director Adam Smyth has failed in her bid to be elected to Belfast City Council as a TUV candidate.
Anne Smyth stood for Jim Allister's hardline unionist party in Belfast's Titanic DEA, and was formally excluded from the race for the east Belfast ward's six seats on Saturday.
Ms Smyth received 564 first preferences - the second lowest in the DEA, ahead of SDLP candidate Elly Odhiambo - and earned 374 fewer than the Green Party's Gillian Hamilton.
The result will disappoint the TUV, with Ms Smyth one of the party's more high-profile candidates ahead of polling day last Thursday.
In the run-up to the election, she sparked controversy by criticising east Belfast Irish language activist Lina Ervine, who Mrs Smyth said "first came to public notice for her attempts to persuade east Belfast people to learn Gaelic".
The TUV candidate attacked Mrs Ervine, the founder of the east Belfast Turas Irish language project, for claiming a substantial number of World War One soldiers from the area were Irish-only speakers.
Ms Smyth also highlighted Mrs Ervine’s involvement with the East Belfast GAA club, pointing in a statement to the “sectarian nature of the supposed 'sporting' organisation that is the GAA”.
Mrs Ervine called the TUV candidate's comments “negative electioneering which offers nothing positive to communities”.
