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(Editorial, Irelandclick.com)

It's two weeks to the day when we go to the polls to elect our new MPs and city councillors and the May 5 election is finally beginning to hot up.

The Ulster Unionist Party today unveiled its manifesto and party leader David Trimble is now calling for a complete overhaul of the arrangements for powersharing in government.

Mr Trimble said that the UUP if elected would be calling for the repeal of the d'Hondt formula, which gives parties seats in the Assembly Executive in proportion to their political strength, and for a voluntary coalition with the SDLP in any future Assembly.

The UUP manifesto smacks of an attempt to close the stable door after the horse has bolted, given that Mr Trimble's party is now fighting for its political life and could conceivably lose all of its Westminster seats to the DUP.

His position is totally at odds with that of the SDLP, which has consistently voiced its support for the Good Friday Agreement and its power-sharing mechanisms.

However, it is indicative of a mindset which exists within unionism which still refuses to accept the validity of the mandate given by the nationalist community to its political representatives.

Despite their desire to deal with parties of their own choice, unionists will have to work with whoever is elected by the nationalist people on May 5 if any progress is to be made on the plethora of issues such as policing, justice, human rights and equality and the full implemenatation of the Good Friday Agreement.

This article appeared first on the Irelandclick.com web site on April 21, 2005.