Opinion

Editorial: Canvassing confrontation can't be allowed to set the tone of election and must be condemned

Free and fair elections are an entirely fundamental aspect of our democratic system. Not only must the ballot itself be conducted properly – including, for example, through the casting of secret votes and with verifiable and observable counting – but the contest itself must also allow candidates to set out their proposals and policies without fear or favour.

We know only too well from our own history in Northern Ireland how valuable these freedoms are and the harm that is done when the democratic process is distorted.

Thankfully the principle of one citizen, one vote is now firmly established and though tensions can occasionally rise in some closely fought areas, elections are generally conducted in a robust but fair manner.

In this context, all reasonable people will hope that the alarming ordeal suffered by Alliance Party councillor Michael Long is an isolated incident.

Mr Long, who sits on Belfast City Council, has a long record of elected public service. A former High Sheriff of Belfast, he is a candidate in the upcoming May 18 local government elections and is campaigning to hold on to his seat in the Lisnasharragh area in the east of the city.

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Mr Long, who is married to Alliance Party leader Naomi Long, was canvassing alone in Carncaver Road area last Thursday when he was physically assaulted and branded "republican scum" by two men.

His election literature was snatched from him and thrown across the road and the men told Mr Long to leave. They said it was a loyalist area in which he wasn't welcome. Mr Long characterised the abuse as "pretty much sectarian and politically-based" and there was a sinister aspect when one of his assailants said "I know who you are". Police are treating the episode as a hate crime.

Mr Long, to his credit, resumed his canvassing of a different part of Lisnasharragh a short time afterwards.

"My aim is to pretty much knock every door in Lisnasharragh during the campaign with my colleagues and that's still my aim I suppose," he said.

The essence of the democratic process is that parties and candidates set out their ideas and policies, and that these can then be interrogated and challenged by political rivals. Opposition should be through argument and the advancement of other proposals, but never through harassment, intimidation and violence.

Northern Ireland's political process has endured bullying tactics far too often in the past. All democrats should condemn the confrontation Mr Long encountered and fervently hope it will in no way set the tone for the next month of campaigning.