BREAKING: Ald Graham Warke candidate in LGE 2023

Former DUP Councillor and Mayor, Alderman Graham Warke, has announced his candidacy in the forthcoming Local Government Elections.

Alderman Warke is standing in the Faughan District Electoral Area as an independent candidate.

The Local Government Elections take place on May 18 and will see a total of 462 councillors elected across 11 local councils.

Alderman Warke, who is from Newbuildings was co-opted onto Derry City and Strabane District Council to fill the vacancy left by Gary Middleton who became a Foyle MLA. 

In the 2019 Local Council Elections, Alderman Warke topped the poll in the Faughan ward and subsequently served as Deputy Mayor and then Mayor between June 2020 and May 2022. 

In June 2022 he announced he was leaving the DUP but remaining on Derry City and Strabane District Council as an Independent councillor.

Speaking to Derry Now about his decision to throw his hat into the ring in May, Alderman Warke said he felt he had not received DUP support during his mayoral year.

“I’ll be honest, support wise it wasn’t there, for what I was doing. I felt the party could have supported me a lot more. 

“In my heart, I was getting frustrated by what was going on in the Assembly and, for me, I had two schools in the Cityside and two schools in the Waterside one day and all they needed was an Education Minister’s signature. 

“As the Mayor, I was promised the Education Minister was coming down and for whatever reason, they couldn’t make it that day, which was fair enough, and we set it up again, and it happened again. By that stage I was very frustrated. You heard it all the time but it just seemed as if there was a roadblock on the Glenshane.”

Alderman Warke said since he had gone Independent, he has received “a lot of support”.

“I love being a councillor,” he added, “and I respect every councillor in there. They are not in it for money, they are in for the love of their community and that is what I love.

“I love where I live and I want to make it better. It’s wee Betty up the street or wee Bob down the street, it might not be a big job to me but it is a big thing to them and it is about helping them as an elected representative. 

That is why I have decided to do what I love and I want to give it a go here now for the next elections on May 18. I have a good team built up around me and we are already on the ground canvassing. As anybody knows, I’m only a text or a phone call away. I’m not the hardest to get. I am always there for anybody and everybody.

“My journey as an elected representative is not finished yet. I still have a lot to achieve, a lot of jobs out there to complete. I feel we need that voice for people out there.”

Read the full interview with Alderman Graham Warke in Thursday's Derry News.