By Family tribute

Copyright derryjournal

Patrick Bradley was born in 1935 in Ewing Street, and educated at the Brow of the Hill primary school and St Columb’s College. After jobs as a laboratory technician in DuPont and in distributing small business grants through LEDU (the Local Enterprise Development Unit), he responded to a job advert in 1973 seeking a Deputy Electoral Officer to cover a large portion of the west of Northern Ireland. It was a role for which he had no prior experience and received very little training for before being launched straight into the deep end – the start of a remarkable career running elections at home and in dozens of countries around the world. Upon taking up his post as one of the Deputy Electoral Officers in 1973 he discovered that Northern Ireland’s electoral infrastructure was in poor shape organisationally – at the very time that it was most under threat from paramilitary activity. He also found that he had insufficient staff support and no suitable offices to work from, with even the basic materials needed to run elections (e.g. ballot boxes etc) stored in a rusting shed in Bushmills – 40 miles from his Derry base. Within weeks he was thrown in at the deep-end by the sudden announcement of the February 1974 Westminster snap election. It was to be the first of many elections Pat organised in challenging circumstances over the next 26 years. In 1980 Pat was promoted to the role of the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland, with the buck stopping with him for elections over the following two decades. A series of key polls affecting Northern Ireland’s future took place during his time in office – from the election of Hunger Striker Bobby Sands in 1981, to the Forum elections in 1996 and the Good Friday Agreement referendum in 1998. Pat was the person who announced the result of the Good Friday Referendum to the world, with his famous quote of “Yes – 71.12%” becoming a defining moment in NI’s journey towards peace. Video and audio of that announcement continue to be used by the media to this day, and even featured in the final episode of ‘Derry Girls’ – securing his place in history as the voice of the Good Friday Referendum. Pat’s experience in keeping electoral democracy running in a Northern Ireland teetering on the edge of civil war saw him become a recognised global expert in elections and conflict resolution. As a result the UN, EU and UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office beat a path to his door to secure his help running elections in troubled hotspots and emerging democracies around the world – especially with the demise of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Pat served as a senior/lead technical advisor in elections in 30 countries across five continents – from South Africa to Saudi Arabia, Kosovo to Hong Kong, and Russia to Lebanon. He retired from his Chief Electoral Officer role in 2000, but continued to serve as an advisor on elections around the world for a number of years thereafter. During his fascinating career Pat was the target of a 200lb bomb in Derry, was shot at it in East Timor, and held meetings with senior statesmen like Nelson Mandela. Bradley was awarded an MBE in 1986 and a CBE in 1999 ‘For Service to the Electoral Process’. In 2022 he published a memoir of his time running elections at home and abroad, titled ‘Ballots, Bombs and Bullets’ (Colmcille Press). He passed away on Thursday, September 18 surrounded by family in Altnagelvin Hospital, following a short illness. He is survived by wife Mary, children Aileen, Dermot and Steve, and his granddaughter Zara. Pat was always very proud of the long connection he and his family had with Derry, and the city very much ran through his veins. His funeral will take place on Saturday, September 27 at 10am in St Columba’s Church,Long Tower, with his body reposing in the family home (25 Talbot Park, Derry City, BT48 7SZ) on Thursday and Friday, September 25 and 26.