MR Gerry Adams, in publishing the Sinn Fein manifesto yesterday, said he would resign from republican politics if his party did not get a mandate in the Westminster election.
However, he insisted Sinn Fein was hoping to win its "biggest and best vote" in the May 1st poll. He said that a high Sinn Fein vote and the election of one or more MPs would mean that the British government had to engage in inclusive talks involving Sinn Fein.
Asked what he meant by a "mandate" Mr Adams indicated that a vote lower than that achieved by the two loyalist parties and the Northern Conservatives in the Forum poll of last year -just over 7.5 per cent - would represent an absence of a mandate. Sinn Fein achieved 15.5 per cent of the vote in the Forum poll and 10 per cent in the last Westminster election.
Mr Adams expressed confidence that Sinn Fein could win seats in West Belfast, West Tyrone and Mid-Ulster, although he also indicated that should Sinn Fein not win any Westminster seats that would not necessarily be a resigning matter.
Sinn Fein in its manifesto, entitled "A New Opportunity for Peace", reiterates its objective to end "British rule in Ireland". The manifesto states: "Sinn Fein is not the IRA. But we recognise and acknowledge the IRA's stated intention of enhancing the democratic peace process and the IRA's definitive commitment to success."
When asked by reporters to react to the IRA's continuing campaign of bombs and bomb alerts in England, Mr Martin McGuinness, the party's chief negotiator, said the bombs on the M6 yesterday were a "manifestation of what is wrong in our society". Sinn Fein wanted an end to all violence.
Mr McGuinness did not accept that such disruption would undermine chances of a possible new Labour government in Britain engaging seriously with Sinn Fein. "We believe that Labour will move forward imaginatively and recognise the mistakes made by the pro-unionist prime minister, John Major," he said.
Mr McGuinness said he believed the electorate in Northern Ireland, and many in Britain, would recognise that over the last seven years the Sinn Fein leadership was to the forefront in "plotting a course out of conflict in this country".
