CELTIC LEAGUE - PRESS INFORMATION


CELTIC NATIONS FACE ELECTION CHOICES


On 23rd April another election will take place in one of the Celtic
countries, as the people of Brittany vote in the first round of the
French Presidential elections. This election follows on from the north
of Ireland Stormont Assembly elections last March 7th. On May 3rd
there will also be elections in Cornwall, Scotland and Wales, but
will any of these elections signal a change for the Celtic countries
in terms of greater autonomy? There will also be a General Election
in the south of Ireland later this year.

Ireland

The first election this year was in the north of Ireland where people
participated in elections for the Stormont Assembly on 7 th March.
This led to a power sharing government with the loyalist DUP's Ian
Paisley as First Minister and nationalist Sinn Féin's Martin McGuiness
taking the Deputy Minister post.

Turnout was marginally higher at the polls than in the 2003 elections
and in the words of Sinn Fein, the agreement "marks the beginning
of a new era of politics on this island". It does finally seem that
things are moving forward again, but the test of this will be over
the next few years once the Assembly Government has had a chance to
work together.

Meanwhile in the south, General Elections will also soon be called
for the 30th Dáil Éireann. Indeed Sinn Féin could indeed hold the
balance of power in these elections as they are widely tipped to increase
their representation. As the only all Ireland political party, if
Sinn Féin secures a more significant share of the vote it could indeed
prove interesting in the Six Counties. Currently, Ireland's Government
is made up of a Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat coalition.

Brittany

In the French Presidential elections affecting Brittany, of those
nationalists who go out to vote, the opinion of who to elect to the
most powerful position in the state remains divided. L'Union Démocratique
Bretonne (UDB) are calling on their members to vote for the Green
candidate Dominique Voynet. Voynet has called for France's ratification
of the European Charter for Regional and Minority languages and a
reunified Brittany.

Voynet however, has no chance of getting through to the second round
of elections, so many Breton nationalists may not vote for her at
all in the hope of preventing the much feared Niolas Sarkozy from
gaining power, who could set the Breton cause back years. On the other
hand Segolénè Royal, even though some are saying that she supports
important changes, her track record does not suggest that things will
change for the better should she win. On the contrary she is all too
likely to maintain the status quo, which is a situation that Brittany
needs to move away from at all costs.

Some nationalists in Breizh therefore are calling for a vote for the
surprise candidate Francois Bayou, who has also called for the reunification
of Brittany and the French ratification of the European Charter mentioned
above. The difference between him and Royal however is that Bayrou
is a speaker of Occitan himself. He has also promised to increase
democracy in the state, increase devolution and ensure a better balance
of power. However during election time talk is cheap and Bayrou, no
one really knowing what he is capable of, may be just appealing to
Breton sentiments.

Cornwall

In Cornwall, Mebyon Kernow is fielding more candidates than they have
ever done before in the district, town and parish council elections.
In total, thirty four different people have been nominated and it
is already known that eleven town and parish council candidates have
been returned unopposed where there were insufficient nominations
to force a contest, including three seats on Truro city council. In
addition, over the last few months a number of councillors have joined
MK from other parties.

Nevertheless Cornwall is still largely dominated by the Liberal Democrats,
who despite having representatives on virtually every council and
hold all 5 parliamentary seats, have done very little for the Cornish
cause. Recently it is being widely felt that the Lib Dem dominated
Celtic nation is actually holding progress and democracy up. Let's
hope that the people of Cornwall make this clear in May and vote for
the nationalist cause.

Wales

Plaid Cymru have recently launched an advertising campaign in an attempt
to simply get people out to vote (for anyone) in the forthcoming elections,
when it was estimated that less than 40% of the electorate are expected
to turn out. The elections, for the Welsh Assembly Government, could
prove important for Plaid who is being tipped to form a future coalition
Government. There is currently speculation about whom Plaid would
form an alliance with and despite very public accusations from Labour
that Plaid will form a coalition with the Conservatives if they gained
significant control, this claim is as preposterous as it sounds. It
is more likely that should Plaid increase their representation in
the Assembly, some sort of alliance with the Liberal Democrats seems
closer to the truth.

On the other hand the Green Party Wales/Plaid Werdd Cymru will also
be contesting all Welsh Assembly seats in Wales this May and depending
on their success, a reaffirmation of the Plaid/Green pact would be
a welcome development. Plaid already shares their Parliamentary grouping
with the Greens in the European Parliament under the European Free
Alliance.

At this time it does indeed seem a straight contest between Plaid
and Labour for control of the Assembly, but no doubt about it, a return
of a Labour Government with reduced Plaid representation would be
a knock for the devolution process.

Scotland

In Scotland the electioneering campaign is being vigorously fought,
with Labour visibly looking concerned by the increase in support of
the Scottish Nationalist Party. The SNP have promised a referendum
on independence if they get into Government in 2010 and with opinion
polls suggesting that Labour's current majority looks set to fall
in 2007, opening the way up for a possible SNP-Liberal Democrat coalition
Government that could also extend to the Scottish Greens, it certainly
seems that this is one promise that could well be honoured.

The 3rd May election will come just two days after the tercentenary
of the Act of Union between Scotland and England and whether Labour
will use this anniversary to foster loyalist support remains to be
seen. Recent public support for independence from respected international
business and political leaders such as Sir George Mathewson, the former
chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Mr Gerry Collins, former
Irish Foreign Minister and Member of the European Parliament, have
embarrassed Labour Prime Minister Blair and along with him the Scottish
Labour Executive.

Conclusions

This year is certainly a year of elections for the Celtic countries.
All countries, excepting the Isle of Mann (Mannin had a General Election
in November 2006 which brought little change - government policy is
still based on financial services with the untrammelled immigration
that sustains), will experience some sort of election this year and
the changes that have and are predicted to take place will indeed
show their influence in the coming years, hopefully to the benefit
of our different nations.

The real major concern to the League in these elections is the possible
consequences for Brittany if the current French Presidential favourite,
Sarkozy, secures office. Sarkozy is a man who does not or cannot see
that Brittany exists as a distinct Celtic cultural and linguist entity
in its own right. For him the French state is all important and no
other culture or language exists inside the state, except French.


Indeed Sarkozy is a real threat for the political, democratic, cultural
and linguistic development of Brittany and if he is elected the Breton
nationalist movement, including the League, will really have its work
cut out.

(Report compiled by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot - Celtic League Secretary General)


J B Moffatt
Director of Information
Celtic League

15/04/07


The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works
to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a
broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights
human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on
socio-economic issues.

TEL (UK)01624 877918 MOBILE (UK)07624 491609

Internet site at
http://www.manxman.co.im/cleague
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celtic_league/



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