41.   Relations between the leaders of the three parties are notorously bad and they were unable to form an electoral alliance before the polls for this reason.

42.   That won him the admiration of the left, which gave strong backing when the issue of leadership of the Olive Tree electoral alliance came up.

43.   The BJP is now wooing regional parties it once shunned for electoral alliances.

44.   The MYC leader said there was no plan yet to turn the organisation into an electoral alliance, though its parties could forge platforms among them.

45.   The mainstream Catholic party in Northern Ireland, the Social Democratic Labour Party, has refused to enter any electoral alliance with Sinn Fein unless it renews the ceasefire.