In addition to the European Elections on 4th June and 5th June, Cornwall and Republic of Ireland also held local elections.

In Cornwall Mebyon Kernow fielded its highest number of candidates in the first elections to the new Cornwall Council. Earlier this year, Cornwall had its district and county councils abolished, which were replaced by a single 123-member Cornish unitary authority. The move was pushed forward by the Liberal Democrat run administration, who argued that the abolition of the two-tier district and county council system would mean that they could exploit the efficiencies to cut spending on bureaucracy and reinvest the money in front-line services.

The elections however saw an end to Liberal Democrat rule and the Conservatives taking the biggest share of the vote. Mebyon Kernow - the Party for Cornwall (MK) won three Council seats, which is the highest number of elected councillors they have had in a Cornwall wide administration. MK also gained more votes across Cornwall than the Labour Party and could play a crucial role in any Cornwall Council coalition negotiations that take place.

In Ireland Fine Gael took the majority of the local council seats with local representatives of the government of the Fianna Fáil (FF) party taking the lowest share of the vote in its history. The Greens, who are currently in a coalition government with FF, were virtually wiped out at local election level. They saw their total number of seats fall from 17 to three and lost every one of their council seats in Dublin. Fine Gael is the now the largest party in the county and city councils for the first time in the history of the State. The elections also saw an increase in the number of independent candidates elected.

Other news to come out of the local elections in Ireland include FF's (and Bertie Ahern's brother) Maurice Ahern's defeat in his Cabra Dublin Council seat, which marks the first time that a member of the Ahern family has not been on Dublin Council since the 1970's. Labour leader Eamon Gilmor also called on the Taoiseach yesterday to dissolve Government and call an election in the national interest.

Despite disastrous results for the Irish and UK parties of government in the local elections, it doesn't currently look like the Prime Minister's (PM) of the respective states will call a general election. PM Brown and Taoiseach Cowen both seem intent on staying put for the time being.

Links:

www.mebyonkernow.org (voir le site) (voir le site)

(Article compiled for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

08/06/09

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