Not while the armed struggle was going on Ard.
The IRA would not have let Bobby Sands stand for election if there had been an alternative candidate for the Nationalists to vote for.
Even in that staunchly Republican place, they knew that a large number of the Nationalist people would never vote for an IRA man if there was any alternative at all.

I accept that Sinn Fein vote really took off when the violence stopped.
Is it not true that anti violence SDLP took the majority Nationalist vote before the cease fire?
Facts.
Perspectives.
keith.