Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said she has no plans to step down as leader of the party.
Sinn Féin have performed worse than expected in the local elections amid concerns that they had run too many candidates in certain areas.
Ms McDonald said she will lead a full review into the party’s performance.
“Obviously we are disappointed,” she said.
“It hasn’t been our day, clearly anger with government policy on this occasion has materialised in support for independents.
“We will regroup and I am sorry that we did not do better.”
This is Mary Lou McDonald’s second local election as party president, in 2019 the party’s local government representation collapsed to 81.
Ms McDonald was under severe pressure at the time to improve her party’s polling, which was then bolstered by their most successful general election in their history.
Now she is once again under pressure as they have fallen in opinion polls and are seeing losses across local authorities.
Sources within Sinn Féin told the BBC that there was a feeling among some local groups that head office were not listening to those on the ground when it came to candidate selection.
“We will review and reflect on all of those things,” McDonald told the BBC.
“Everything for the review is on the table.
“I will lead this reflection and this process. When the going gets tough, that’s when leaders step forward, they don’t step down.
“I lead a party with immense talent and potential, we don’t always get it right. We clearly have lessons to learn.”
The Sinn Féin president said that she would prefer a general election “tomorrow morning” and the party will not be looking again at their manifesto.
She denied that Sinn Féin’s tougher stance on immigration in recent months had affected their performance.
The party had suggested means testing asylum seekers in recent weeks as rising anti-immigration sentiment continued to plague the election campaign.
Source link
