(21 Jun 1998) English/Nat
On Thursday (June 25), Northern Ireland will vote for its new assembly - in effect its own government for the first time in more than 25 years.
Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and the majority of its people are Protestant and support Unionist and Loyalist groups which want to remain part of Britain.
But a large minority of Republicans, mainly Catholic, want to reunite with the rest of Ireland.
The split has caused the latest period of conflict, lasting 30 years and costing the lives of more than three-thousand people.
In May, there was a huge turnout as the people of Northern Ireland voted on the Good Friday peace agreement - an accord they approved by a majority of 71 percent.
But this time around, there are fears of voter apathy and a low turnout.
Political commentators blame the large number of parties taking part in the elections, a split in the Unionist vote and the proportional representation system of voting.
Electioneering Sinn Fein style on the streets of the Republican working class New Lodge estate in Belfast.
The parties in this election seldom stray far from their own areas where they are guaranteed support and protection from attack.
Gerry Kelly is a leading member of Sinn Fein - the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (I-R-A).
He is standing for the 108-seat assembly set up by the Good Friday peace agreement.
Kelly was convicted of bombing a British court in 1974, an attack in which one person died and 250 were injured.
Later, in a prison breakout, he shot a prison guard in the head.
He is typical of a number of former paramilitary men from both sides who say they have turned away from violence in favour of democracy.
But resentment and violence are never far away.
A police armoured car drives through the party workers in an area where the Royal Ulster Constabulary (R-U-C) is distrusted and seen as anti-Republican.
On top of a nearby block of apartments, security forces observe the electioneering.
Sinn Fein, along with the loyalist Ulster Unionist Party and the mainly Catholic S-D-L-P, were the main architects of the peace deal with the British and Irish governments which paved the way for these elections.
Northern Ireland had its own parliament and prime minister until 1972 when power passed to London because of the growing split between the two communities.
But despite the bloody history to these elections, campaigning here is the same as in the rest of the world, with candidates trying to appeal to the young.....and old alike.
As night closed in, Kelly had spent three hours knocking on doors and shaking hands, every one of them Catholic and Republican.
He spoke about David Trimble, leader of the Unionist Party and - until the peace agreement - a fierce enemy of Sinn Fein.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We want these people who will have dialogue because to come to conflict resolution we need dialogue and what we want is that shift forward. If David Trimble and people like that would continue to show leadership and say 'yes' to dialogue with Sinn Fein then that would be a big move forward."
SUPER CAPTION: Gerry Kelly, Sinn Fein candidate
David Trimble, head of the Ulster Unionist Party and likely to lead the new assembly, was also campaigning - in safe Loyalist territory at an agricultural show in the small village of Ballymoney in County Antrim.
Never a natural vote getter, he is being groomed for the top office.
It was his willingness to talk to Sinn Fein that led to a breakthrough in the peace process.
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