John Finucane, son of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, is primed to stand for Sinn Féin in North Belfast in the Westminster general election on June 8th.
Mr Finucane, who is himself a solicitor, has been nominated to compete against the outgoing DUP MP Nigel Dodds by Sinn Féin North Belfast Assembly members Carál Ní Chuilín and by Gerry Kelly who stood unsuccessfully for the House of Commons in five previous Westminster elections.
John Finucane was 11 when he witnessed his father being gunned down by the UDA at their north Belfast home in February 1989.
His is the only nomination that is expected to be ratified at a Sinn Féin convention on Wednesday night.
In the 2015, Westminster election DUP deputy leader Mr Dodds defeated Mr Kelly by more than 5,000 votes. In the March Assembly elections the DUP lead over Sinn Féin had narrowed to just over 1,100 votes.
‘Carry the torch’
Mr Kelly said he was proud to be “nominating John Finucane to carry the torch for Sinn Féin” in next month’s election.
“This election is a contest between those who want the North to remain in Europe, who stand for equality for rights and for Irish unity and the DUP who support a hard Brexit, support Tory cuts and who have set their face against equality and rights,” he said.
"Sinn Féin is the only party which can take this seat from the DUP, which can send a clear message to Theresa May that she has no mandate to take the North out of the EU, that she has no mandate for Tory cuts and she has no mandate to continue to deny equality and rights for all, added Mr Kelly.
“I am confident that in John Finucane we can return a nationalist MP for the first time in the history of North Belfast and between now and June 8th we will be pulling out all the stops to make this possible,” he said.
