UNIONIST voters in Ballymena will face a stark choice in today's council elections, a choice defined by how the two main parties have reacted to continuing loyalist protests at a Catholic church in Harryville on the outskirts of the town.
The demonstrations, timed to coincide with Saturday evening Mass, began last September in protest at the blocking of Orange parades through the nearby nationalist village of Dunloy, Co Antrim. Protesters have clashed violently with the police and television beamed around the world has shown Mass-goers subjected to sectarian chanting.
The Ulster Unionist mayor of Ballymena, Mr James Currie, took a stand against the protests, and went to Our Lady's Church to show solidarity with the Mass-goers. The Democratic Unionist Party, on the other hand, said it supported the right to protest and the Orangmen's right to march.
The Ulster Unionist Party currently holds 11 of Ballymena council's 24 seats, while the DUP has eight.
The town's residents are 80 per cent Protestant, and the SDLP has just two seats, while the Alliance Party has one, and independents have two.
But before the last local elections in 1993, the DUP controlled the council with an overall majority. Mr Currie is standing in the Ballymena South ward, which includes Harryville. Among the DUP candidates running against him is Mr David Tweed.
Mr Tweed, a former Ireland rugby international, is one of the Orangemen demanding the right to march through Dunloy this summer and has taken part in a number of the Harryville protests. The DUP decision to run him in this ward is being seen as a direct bid to make electoral gains from the high feelings aroused by the "right to march" debate.
The DUP leader on the council, Mr Maurice Mills, responds to this allegation, saying: "The DUP's intention is to capitalise on David Tweed's ability to relate to the people of that area." It is expected that the DUP vote will increase in Harryville. At the May 1st general election, the party leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, is believed to have polled a near 100 per cent vote in the area, an indication of a hardening of opinion.
Mr Mills says: "Even people who are not involved in the protests see that the real issue at hand is the fact that Orangemen have been stopped from going to their place of worship, to take part in an annual service. It is clearly an issue of civil and religious liberty, and that is the issue that is going to be totally prevalent over the coming months."
For Mr Mills, the issue is the constitutional position of Northern Ireland. It is a time, he says, when unionists are being tested, "to see if they are genuine unionists, and I fear several are open to question". He admits, however, that the DUP does not have a realistic chance of regaining its overall majority on the council, due he says to "a transitional phase" the party is going through.
In his view, it is up to the police to deal with the church protests, "to see that the Roman Catholics get to their place of worship, and that the protest is carried out within the law".
He believes Mr Currie's appearances at the church "only exacerbated the situation and made those on the protest far more determined".
Mr Currie, a former part-time reserve RUC man, admits there has been a hardening of attitudes, but says he believes "the vast majority of ordinary, decent people" will support him.
He says those who claim to be defending Protestants' rights have no right to engage in "the intimidation, catcalling, jeering and mocking of people of a different religion, who also have the right to go to church unmolested".
Mr Currie would prefer to shift the focus from Harryville. He says he hopes the voters will take account of how the town has "moved forward in all spheres over the past four years". He maintains that the previous DUP-controlled council stifled business because of its less-than-cordial relations with the Northern Ireland Office.
Meanwhile, the shadow of Harryville will also hang over nationalist voters. SDLP councillor Mr Declan O'Loan says the protests will be "a defining issue in this campaign" for both nationalists and unionists.