The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905,emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson,it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movement. Following the partition of Ireland,it was the governing party of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. It was supported by most unionist voters throughout the conflict known as the Troubles,during which time it was often referred to as the Official Unionist Party (OUP).
The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a minor unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast,becoming the PUP in 1979. Linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commando (RHC),for a time it described itself as "the only left of centre unionist party" in Northern Ireland,with its main support base in the loyalist working class communities of Belfast.
Belfast City Council is the local authority with responsibility for part of Belfast,the largest city of Northern Ireland. The council serves an estimated population of 348,005 (2022),the largest of any district council in Northern Ireland,while being the smallest by area. Belfast City Council is the primary council of the Belfast Metropolitan Area,a grouping of six former district councils with commuter towns and overspill from Belfast,containing a total population of 579,276.
Reginald Norman Morgan Empey,Baron Empey,,best known as Reg Empey,is a Northern Irish politician who served as the acting First Minister of Northern Ireland in 2001. He was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2005 to 2010 and served as chairman of the party from 2012 to 2019. Empey was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfast from 1998 to 2011.
Frank McCoubrey is a Northern Irish unionist politician and Ulster Loyalist,as well as a community activist and researcher. McCoubrey is a Belfast City Councillor for the Court DEA since 1997,sitting as a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member since 2012. He is a leading member of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG). McCoubrey is a native of Highfield,Belfast.
Jim RodgersOBE (b.1943) is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2001 to 2002,and again from 2007 to 2008. Rodgers also served as the High Sheriff of Belfast from 2016 to 2017. A member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP),he has been a Belfast City Councillor for the Ormiston DEA since 1993. Additionally,Rodgers is an appointed Alderman on the council.
Hugh Smyth OBE was a Northern Irish Ulster Loyalist and politician who was leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) from 1979 to 2002,as well as during an interim period in 2011. He was Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1994 to 1995,as well as a Belfast City Councillor for the Court DEA from 1972 to January 2014,making him one of the longest-serving members on the Council. Smyth was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the 1996 New Year's Honours list.
Independent Unionist has been a label sometimes used by candidates in elections in the United Kingdom,indicating a support for British unionism.
David McNarry is a former Northern Irish unionist politician and Ulster Loyalist representative who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Strangford from 2003 to 2016.
Fred Cobain,MBE is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician from Northern Ireland,serving as a Belfast City Councillor for the Castle DEA since 2019. He was previously an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast North from 1998 until 2011.
The Northern Ireland Conservatives is a section of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party that operates in Northern Ireland. The Conservatives are the only major British party to field candidates within Northern Ireland and typically contests only a fraction of seats in elections. The party won 0.03% of the vote in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election and 0.1% of the vote in the 2024 United Kingdom General election in Northern Ireland.
Jim Kirkpatrick is a Northern Irish unionist politician who has represented the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) three times and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) twice.
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties,the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom. A founding precept of the party is that "nothing which is morally wrong can be politically right".
Máirtín ÓMuilleoir is an Irish Sinn Féin politician,author,publisher,and businessman,who served as the 70th Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2013 to 2014.
William Dickson,known as Billy Dickson,is a Northern Irish unionist politician and Belfast tour guide who was a Belfast City Councillor for Belfast Area F from 1977 to 1985,and then for Balmoral from 1985 to 1989.
Henry Reilly is a Northern Irish unionist politician,serving as a Newry,Mourne and Down Councillor for The Mournes DEA since 2014. Reilly currently sits as a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member on the council,having joined the party in 2022.
Paula Jane Bradshaw is an Alliance Party of Northern Ireland politician. She has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Belfast since the 2016 election and in 2024 was appointed Alliance Party Chief Whip.
Alan Chambers is a Northern Irish unionist politician who was acting Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly between 2022 and 2024. Chambers has been an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down since 2016. He currently serves as Chairperson of the Assembly's Audit Committee.
Local elections were held in Northern Ireland on Thursday 2 May 2019. The last elections were held in 2014. 819 candidates contested 462 seats across Northern Ireland's 11 local government districts. 1,305,384 people aged 18 and over were eligible to vote,and 52.7% of the electorate turned out.
Kate Siobhan Nicholl is a Northern Irish politician for the Alliance Party,serving as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South since 2022.
