Son of murdered solicitor to stand for Sinn Fein in North Belfast

By Maria McCann

The son of the murdered solicitor Pat Finucane has been nominated by Sinn Fein to stand in the upcoming Westminster election.

John Finucane will be fighting for the north Belfast seat on the 8th of June.

It's the first time he'll be putting himself forward to stand in front line politics.

I'm very proud to have been nominated to go forward for selection as the North Belfast Sinn Féin candidate for upcoming Westminster election

— John Finucane (@johnfinucane) 2 May 2017

Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly was expected to be nominated and has stood in the constituency in Westminster elections since 1997.

He said: “I am proud to be nominating John Finucane to carry the torch for Sinn Féin in next month’s Westminster election on June 8th. John will be seconded by my colleague Carál Ní Chuilín MLA.
 
“This election is a contest between those who want the north to remain in Europe, who stand for equality for rights and for Irish unity and the DUP who support a hard Brexit, support Tory cuts and who have set their face against equality and rights.
 
“Sinn Féin is the only party which can take this seat from the DUP, which can send a clear message to Theresa May that she has no mandate to take the north out of the EU, that she has no mandate for Tory cuts and she has no mandate to continue to deny equality and rights for all.
 
“I am confident that in John Finucane we can return a nationalist MP for the first time in the history of North Belfast and between now and June 8th we will be pulling out all the stops to make this possible.”

Solicitor John Finucane to stand for Sinn Fein in north Belfast, selected instead of expected candidate, veteran Gerry Kelly #GE17

— Allison Morris (@AllisonMorris1) 2 May 2017

The Sinn Féin North Belfast selection convention will be held at the Lansdowne Hotel at 6.30pm on Wednesday night, 3 May 2017. 

Meanwhile, Nigel Dodds has been announced as a candidate for the DUP in the constituency.

The Ulster Unionists aren't standing there. In a statement the party said: "The Ulster Unionist Party took the unilateral decision to stand aside in Foyle, NorthBelfast and West Belfast for the General Election."

The SDLP and Alliance party hasn't yet made any formal candidate announcements for North Belfast.