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 Alliance Party of Northern Ireland,or simply Alliance,is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. Following the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election,it was the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly,holding seventeen seats,and broke through by placing third in first preference votes in the 2019 European Parliament election and polling third-highest regionally at the 2019 UK general election. The party won one of the three Northern Ireland seats in the European Parliament,and one seat,North Down,in the House of Commons,the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
North Down is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Alex Easton,elected at the 2024 United Kingdom general election.
The Green Party Northern Ireland,sometimes abbreviated as Green Party NI,is a political party in Northern Ireland. Like many green political parties around the world,its origins lie in the anti-nuclear,labour and peace movements of the 1970s and early 1980s.
Naomi Rachel Long MLA is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Minister of Justice in the Northern Ireland Executive since February 2024,having previously served from January 2020 to October 2022. She has served as leader of the Alliance Party since 2016 and a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East since 2020.
Brian Wilson is a Northern Irish politician who was a member of North Down Borough Council for 34 years (1981–2015). He retired when local government was reformed. During this time he served as an Alliance member,Green Party and Independent. He was the first Green Party Councillor to be elected in Northern Ireland in 2005. Wilson served as the Green Party Northern Ireland’s Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down from 2007 to 2011,and was the party’s first elected representative in the Assembly. He agreed to serve as an MLA for a single term,and stood down to be replaced by his research assistant,Steven Agnew.
Alexander Easton is a Northern Ireland politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Down since 2024. He previously served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Down from 2003 to 2024.
The 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday,5 May,following the dissolution of the Northern Ireland Assembly at midnight on 24 March 2011. It was the fourth election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998.
Rachel Woods is a Northern Irish academic and former Green Party politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Down from 2019 to 2022.
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.
John Kenneth Blair is an Alliance Party politician serving as the Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2024. Blair has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim since 2018. He is the first openly gay member of the Assembly.
Andrew Muir is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Minister of Agriculture,Environment and Rural Affairs since February 2024. He is an Alliance Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Down. He was appointed as an MLA following incumbent Alliance MLA Stephen Farry's election as MP for North Down in the 2019 UK general election,and elected in the constituency in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election.
Kate Siobhan Nicholl is a Zimbabwean-Irish politician for the Alliance Party,serving as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South since 2022.
Sorcha-Lucy Eastwood is a Northern Irish politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 2024. A member of the Alliance Party,she previously served as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 2022 until her election to the House of Commons.
Danny Donnelly is an Alliance Party politician,serving as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim since May 2022.
David Honeyford is an Alliance Party politician,serving as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since 2022.
Patrick Brown is a Northern Irish former politician who was an Alliance Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). He was elected as an MLA in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election for South Down before unexpectedly resigning in April 2024 whilst facing an investigation from a standards watchdog.
Patricia O'Lynn is a Northern Irish academic,educator,and politician who was an Alliance Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from 2022 to 2023. She was elected as an MLA in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election for North Antrim.
Eóin Tennyson is a Northern Irish Alliance Party politician who has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann since the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election.
Nuala McAllister is a Northern Irish politician who is an Alliance Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). She was elected as an MLA in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election for Belfast North.
