Election '97: Smooth Sinn Fein makes its poll pitch

Sinn Fein yesterday presented a confident and even suave image to the world as they formally launched their election campaign with a prediction that they could win up to four of Northern Ireland's 18 seats.

Party president Gerry Adams and other candidates presented an almost debonair image as, dressed in sober dark suits and respectable ties, they made their pitch for votes in a converted Belfast linen mill.

Mr Adams declared: "We are an Irish republican party. We are for an end to British rule in our country. We are for a permanent peace settlement based on accommodation and agreement. If we get our message across we can get up to four seats."

IRA incidents such as last week's attempted murder of a woman RUC officer and the disruption of the Grand National at Aintree have made no discernible impact on Sinn Fein's support. Many of their voters have been supporting them steadily since the early 1980s and do not recoil from IRA violence.

Few observers believe they can take the four seats mentioned, for North Belfast looks safe for the Ulster Unionists and West Tyrone will turn on an unpredictable three-way split between three candidates in a new constituency. But most observers consider that Mr Adams and Martin McGuinness are favourites to take West Belfast and Mid-Ulster.

Mr McGuinness yesterday spelt out the republican assumption that, despite whatever IRA violence may lie ahead, a new peace process will be rebuilt following the British and Irish general elections. He said: "People's imagination has been caught by the impact of the Hume-Adams agreement. The reception we are getting on the doorsteps in absolutely powerful.

"People know in their heart and soul that whenever these elections are out of the road, both governments are going to have to return to the template that has been put into position by John Hume and Gerry Adams. Most think there's going to be a new British government and a new opportunity for peace."

Sinn Fein candidates said voters were critical of Mr Hume's Social Democratic and Labour party because it had refused to contemplate an electoral pact between the two parties. The SDLP has said it would not consider a pact while IRA violence continued. Sinn Fein's candidate in West Tyrone, Pat Doherty, said nationalists there were demanding a pact. "The anger on the anger on the door-step is unbelievable."