I HAVE A DREAM…New SDLP leader Colum Eastwood addresses the party faithful on Saturday at its annual conference
THE youngest person ever to lead the SDLP says he is aware of the huge task ahead of rebuilding the party but he is “up for the challenge”.
Foyle MLA Colum Eastwood defeated Dr Alasdair McDonnell during the party’s annual conference in Armagh on Saturday.
In total, 305 delegates voted and he was returned as leader with 172 votes to 133 for Dr McDonnell.
He is the third politician from Derry to lead the party since its formation following in the footsteps of Nobel Laureate John Hume and current Foyle MP Mark Durkan.
Mr Eastwood will now set about re-organising the party and moving into key positions those backed him in the election.
Speaking today 48 hours after his resounding victory, Mr Eastwood said he hoped to “unite the party” in the coming month as the party heads in the Assembly elections – his first as leader.
“I feel great. It was a long few weeks of campaigning and people responded positively to it,” he told BBC Radio Foyle.
“We have a lot of work to do. We can’t turn around the fortunes of the SDLP in a few months but we can make a start.
“I have no doubt about the enormity of the task.
“People want to hear us talking about people’s issues and people’s concerns and that’s where I intend to take the party.
“We are going to do this as a united party. I have no interest in carrying on any old battles. I wasn’t involved in them and I don’t intend in keeping them going,” he said.
South Belfast MLA Fearghal McKinney has been voted the party’s new deputy leader.
Mr McKinney received 158 votes, with Upper Bann MLA Dolores Kelly getting 138.
“Fearghal was supporting Alasdair. He felt he was being loyal to the leadership. That’s fair,” he said on Radio Foyle.
“Some people didn’t vote for me but that’s fine. That’s politics. That’s democracy.
“We have to make the North of Ireland work. We haven’t seen the benefits of the peace process or the economic benefits we were all promised in Derry.
“The DUP/Sinn Fein government hasn’t worked. Their visions are not credible.”
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