SF to officially announce McGuinness presidential bid

The Sinn Fein executive will formally announce its intentions for the Irish presidential election later.Sinn Fein announced on Friday that it would be supporting Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness for the role.Mr McGuinness' candidacy is expected to be ratified by the Ard Chomhairle.He has secured the necessary support of independent members of the Irish parliament for his nomination.They are Finian McGrath, Luke Flanagan, Michael Healy-Rae and Tom Fleming.On Saturday, the deputy first minister said he was prepared to meet all heads of state "without exception", if he is elected President of Ireland.When the Queen made her first visit to Ireland in May, Sinn Fein did not take part in any of the main ceremonies.He said: "If the people of Ireland decide that I should be their president, my responsibilities and duties would be to meet heads of state from all over the world and to do that without exception and that would be my position."A former IRA commander, Mr McGuinness has been deputy first minister since 2007.While he is likely to face significant scrutiny of his paramilitary past, his party colleagues believe his high profile during the peace process should help build the Sinn Fein vote.Earlier this year, the party won 14 seats in the Irish parliament, Dail Eireann - its strongest performance in the modern era.Fine Gael's Gay Mitchell, Special Olympics boss Mary Davis, businessman Sean Gallagher and Labour's Michael D Higgins of Labour, have already put their names forward for the October election. From / BBC