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Northern Ireland will be going to the polls on Wednesday,
November 26 to elect members to the Stormont Assembly.
The Orange Standard would appeal to ALL members of the Orange
family to cast their vote. The ballot box is the democratic
way for people to show how they feel about the way their country
is governed, and nowhere does that apply more than in Northern
Ireland.
It is absolutely vital that all Orangemen and Orangewomen,
and their families and friends cast their vote in this election.
How they vote is up to them, and the advice the Standard
would offer to them is to give priority to those who are active
members of the Orange Order.
After that they should vote for the candidates of their choice,
preferably for those most committed to the maintenance of
the Union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with
no dilution of Northern Ireland's membership of the Union.
There must be no weakness in confronting Sinn Fein/IRA aggression.
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland is still totally opposed
to the Belfast Agreement and the participation of Sinn Fein/IRA
in government.
The Belfast Agreement has delivered little for Unionists,
but it is not written in stone, and Unionists of whatever
party returned in this election will have the right to press
for it to be abolished or altered in order to give the majority
population of Northern Ireland a more fairer and equitable
deal.
This is a great opportunity for Orange people and Unionists
to show their feelings through the ballot box, but they must
turn out on the day and record that vote.
In recent times there has been an increasing tendency for
Unionist people to stay away from the polls and the apathy
has contributed in large measure to the election of people
who are vehemently opposed to Northern Ireland's continued
membership of the Union.
There have been seats lost because Unionists stayed away
and that must not happen this time. It must also be remembered
that all the votes will be totted up and counted, and they
will be analysed. Any significant reduction in the pro-Union
vote will be used by the enemies of Ulster and of the UK to
support their argument that there is a decline in the desire
to remain British.
Use Your Vote! That is the message for all Orange Standard
readers, and we would appeal to them to do this and also to
get the message across to all their family and friends that
it is their duty to vote if they treasure their British citizenship
and identity.
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