SDLP leader has blasted as “nonsense” that May’s Assembly election as a battle over who will become first minister.
DUP leader Arlene Foster said a small swing in votes would hand the role to Sinn Féin.
But Colum Eastwood said focusing on that contest just cheapened politics.
He was speaking ahead of his party’s annual conference that is taking place in Derry today.
It will be used to prepare the ground for May’s Assembly elections.
His party is facing a battle this May when it defends three seats in Derry’s Foyle constituency.
Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister has quit his Mid-Ulster seat to fight it out in Foyle in the hope of taking a seat off the SDLP.
Under Stormont rules, the largest party of the largest designation – unionist or nationalist – provides the first minister.
But the positions of first and deputy first minister are effectively equal.
Mrs Foster said last weekend that May’s election would be “very close”.
She suggested unionist voters should support to the DUP to prevent Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin from becoming first minister.
But Mr Eastwood said Mr McGuinness “already is first minister”.
“He’s joint first minister with Arlene Foster and there’s absolutely no difference between those two offices.
“The idea that we can have a battle for who is going to become first minister is a nonsense.
“It’s an attempt to play to the lowest common denominator and it’s an attempt to drag politics back to where we’re trying to get away from.”
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