Only nine days to go to the Assembly elections, but you wouldn't know it in South Down. You can still drive from Warren point to Ardglass, or Ballynahinch to Kilkeel, and not see a single poster. The constituency's reputation as Northern Ireland's sleepiest political backwater seems secure.
South Down gave the SDLP its biggest share of the vote in last year's Westminster election. "Steady Eddie" McGrady, a low-key brass-tacks political operator, outshone even his party leader John Hume by capturing 53 per cent of the vote. Since wresting the seat from Enoch Powell 11 years ago, McGrady has steadily tightened his grip, pushing up his personal vote and brushing aside challenges from Sinn Fein and the UUP.
For these elections, the party is fielding McGrady and three other candidates, all men. Three seats seem assured and a fourth is a possibility, according to one of the SDLP candidates, Eamon O'Neill, a teacher from Castlewellan.
O'Neill says the major local issue is the proposed down-grading of the hospital in Downpatrick to clinic status, but the fact that all the candidates are opposed to this move effectively eliminates it as an issue.
The Alliance candidate, Dr Anne-Marie Cunningham, may be especially well placed to take advantage of the controversy, but the party has polled poorly on previous electoral outings.
With the Mourne Mountains at its centre and a string of resort towns along the coastline, south Down is one of the most beautiful parts of Northern Ireland. But there is strong local resentment at the priorities of the civil servants in central government.
"The centralists who run this place come down for the views and the holiday homes, but they don't think about the job needs of local people," says O'Neill.
Anne Carr, a peace activist and councillor in Newcastle who is standing for the Women's Coalition, agrees. "We need a better balance between the needs of local people and the expectations of visitors. The locals feel everything is being done for tourists and nothing for them."
Carr feels the area has been forgotten about in the various funding initiatives that have been targeted on the Border regions. There is little local manufacturing and considerable migration by young people to the cities.
South Down recorded the biggest Yes vote in the referendum, according to exit polls, and the pro-Agreement parties are hoping to build on that success by coaxing out first-time voters again. The DUP obtained 11 per cent of the vote in the Forum elections two years ago, but did not put up a candidate in the Westminster poll. But this time the party is badly split after Mr Jim Wells, who comes from outside the constituency, was preferred to a local man.
The UUP's main candidate is the Queen's University lecturer Dermot Nesbitt; his running-mate is Norman Hanna from Kilkeel. Former republican prisoner Mick Murphy and Garret O Fachtna are standing for Sinn Fein. The UK Unionist, Frederick Wharton, is standing for the first time.
The first four seats are likely to go to the SDLP (three) and the UUP. A fourth nationalist seat will be fought over by SDLP and Sinn Fein. Alliance will have to show a significant improvement to challenge for a seat, while Carr is convinced she can take the last seat for the Women's Coalition.
Candidates: Malachi Curran (Labour); Norman Hanna, Der mot Nesbitt (UUP); Jim Wells (DUP);Patrick Bradley, Hugh Carr, Eddie McGrady, Eamon O'Neill (SDLP); Mick Murphy, Garret O'Fachtna (Sinn Fein); Dr Anne-Marie Cunningham (Alliance); Desmond O'Hagan (WP); Patrick O'Connor (Ind Labour); Ms Anne Carr (NI Women); Thomas Mullins (NLP); Frederick Wharton (UKU); George Graham (Unionist).
Westminster 1997 - SDLP 53 per cent; UUP 33 per cent; Sinn Fein 10 per cent; Alliance 4 per cent; NLP 0.44 per cent.
