Fg suppressing democracy says frustrated burke

 Cllr Peter Burke has accused Fine Gael of "suppressing democracy" after last night's fractious general election selection convention in the Mullingar Park Hotel.

Tempers became frayed after it was confirmed that a directive had come down from party headquarters stating that only two candidates would be selected. It also stated that due to the gender quota one had to be a woman, which ensured a place on the ticket for the only female candidate, Deputy Gabrielle McFadden, and pitted Cllr Burke against Deputy James Bannon from Longford for the final place.

Prior to the vote, a number of Cllr Burke supporters urged Deputy Bannon's large group of followers to vote for Cllr Burke, as being an incumbent, the Legan native would inevitably be added to the ticket. However, the ploy was unsuccessful and Cllr Burke was defeated by only two votes.

After the meeting both Deputy McFadden and Deputy Bannon called on the party to include Cllr Burke on the ticket. They, however, also criticised the actions of the Burke camp with Deputy McFadden describing it as "obnoxious".

“I don’t agree with that. I would like him on the ticket but what he did tonight wasn’t fair to James Bannon,” the Athlone deputy said.

A relieved Deputy Bannon also slammed Burke's supporters saying “that's not how we do things in Fine Gael”.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner today, Cllr Burke said that he hoped that the "democratic wishes" of many of the delegates were listened to and that he would be added to the ticket sooner rather than later. He also defended his supporters.

“My take is very clear. It’s obnoxious to suppress democracy. All I asked for was a fair democratic vote, nothing more, nothing less.”