The leader of the Greens in Northern Ireland has said he opposes the party adopting a weighted majority policy for a future border poll.
Mal O’Hara, a member of Seanad Éireann, told The Irish News he was against “any change in the parameters of the Good Friday Agreement”.
The former Belfast councillor’s remarks come after a draft policy proposal was circulated among members arguing for the adoption of a so-called Modified De Borda (MDB) poll, a voting procedure advocated by Belfast-based Peter Emerson, one of the party’s founders.
Named after Jean-Charles de Borda, an 18th century French mathematician, the MDB spurns binary options and instead seeks consensus by using multi-optional and preferential voting procedures.
The email circulated among members and seen by The Irish News says “to foster consensus and avoid polarisation, we propose exploring the use of a Modified De Borda count poll”.
“This approach could be applied to the border poll, if legally permissible, or within a citizens’ assembly process to gauge the weighted opinions of a representative sample across the island,” the email says.
“The MDB method helps capture a range of opinions and reduces the risk of binary polarisation, which is crucial in a divided community.”
It has been suggested that if the policy is adopted it would be included in the party’s manifesto for the Republic’s forthcoming general election.
But the proposal has caused disquiet among some members, with one saying that adopting the policy would be “a gift to the unionists pressing for a supermajority”.
It is also suggested that the abandonment of 50%+one “risks undermining the leadership’s negotiations with Sinn Féin after an election” about the formation of a coalition that included the Greens.
But Mr O’Hara, now the Greens’ most senior representative in the north after the party lost its two assembly seats in 2022, said he rejected the idea.
“Greens in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are working together on a Shared Island policy. These are ongoing discussions and individual members are freely encouraged to suggest ideas,” he said.
He insisted “there is no draft proposal to move to a weighted majority”.
“As leader of the Green Party in Northern Ireland I would be opposed to any change in the parameters of the Good Friday Agreement,” he said.
Irish News columnist Chris Donnelly said the consent principle, as enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement, was “very clear and utterly sacrosanct”.
“There can be zero tolerance of anyone foolish enough to consider deviating from it, not least when you consider that the same people would never conceive of promoting the notion of a weighted majority to retain the existing constitutional status of the north,” he said.
