Martin McGuinness could be replaced in Foyle by former Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Mayor, Councillor Elisha McCallion
THE former Mayor of Derry and Strabane District Council Elisha McCallion is the front runner to replace Martin McGuinness if does not run in March’s snap Assembly election.
The Sinn Fein councillor was Mayor up until June 2016 and her name has been put forward as the favourite to step into Foyle if McGuinness bows out.
The election was called yesterday at Stormont House by Secretary of State James Brokenshire after Sinn Fein refused to nominate a deputy first minister.
Martin McGuinness quit as deputy first minister last Monday over the ‘cash-for-ash’ scandal, with the party citing the DUP’s “arrogance and corruption” in Government as another reason.
McGuinness has been in failing health over the past six weeks after he was forced to pull out of a trip to China with First Minister Arlene Foster.
The Foyle MLA, who turns 67 this coming May, has looked frail and has lost weight.
In last year’s election, he quit Mid-Ulster and was parachuted into Foyle in a bid to take a third seat from Sinn Fein in a power struggle with the SDLP.
But although McGuinness got elected, it was a price with Maeve McLaughlin a casualty of that political power struggle who lost her seat.
McCallion, a 34-year-old married mother of three, is seen as a rising start in Derry Sinn Fein and the ideal replacement for McGuinness if he decides not to run for election on Thursday, March 2.
