Cookstown is a town in County Tyrone,Northern Ireland. It is the fourth-largest town in the county and had a population of 12,546 in the 2021 census. It,along with Magherafelt and Dungannon,is one of the main towns in the Mid-Ulster council area. It was founded around 1620 when the townlands in the area were leased by an English ecclesiastical lawyer,Dr. Alan Cooke,from the Archbishop of Armagh,who had been granted the lands after the Flight of the Earls during the Plantation of Ulster. It was one of the main centres of the linen industry west of the River Bann,and until 1956 the flax-related processes of spinning,weaving,bleaching and beetling were carried out in the town.
Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council was a local council in Northern Ireland from 1973 until 2015. It was originally named Dungannon District Council,gaining borough status and adding "South Tyrone" to its name on 25 November 1999,after petitioning the Secretary of State for the Environment. In May 2015,under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland it merged with Cookstown District Council and Magherafelt District Council to become Mid-Ulster District Council.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist,loyalist,British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley,who led the party for the next 37 years. It is currently led by Gavin Robinson,who initially stepped in as an interim after the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson. It is the second-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly,and won five seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom at the 2024 election. The party has been mostly described as right-wing and socially conservative,being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and republicanism. It is also Eurosceptic and supported Brexit.
Magherafelt District Council was a district council in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. It was merged with Cookstown District Council and Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council on 1 April 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland becoming Mid-Ulster District Council.
Robert Thomas William McCrea,Baron McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician,Christian singer and retired Free Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland. As a politician,he represented South Antrim and Mid Ulster as their Member of Parliament (MP),representing Mid Ulster from 1983 to 1997;then South Antrim between 2000 and 2001,and then again from 2005 to 2015.
James Hugh Allister is a Northern Irish politician and barrister who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Antrim since the 2024 general election. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) in 2007 and has led the party since its formation. Prior to his election to Westminster,Allister was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim,having been first elected in the 2011 Assembly election.
East Londonderry is a constituency in Northern Ireland represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Its current Member of Parliament (MP) has been Gregory Campbell of the DUP since 2001.
Mid Ulster is a parliamentary constituency in the UK House of Commons. The current MP is Cathal Mallaghan,of Sinn Féin,who was first elected at the 2024 election.
South Antrim is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Robin Swann (UUP)
Magherafelt is a town and civil parish in County Londonderry,Northern Ireland. It had a population of 9,071 at the 2021 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of the county and is the social,economic and political hub of the area. It is part of Mid-Ulster District.
Cookstown District Council was a district council covering an area largely in County Tyrone and partly in County Londonderry. It merged with Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council and Magherafelt District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Mid-Ulster District Council.
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.
Thomas Buchanan is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician,serving as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for West Tyrone since 2003. Buchanan is the DUP Spokesperson for Victims Rights and Groups Liaison. He is also one of the DUP's members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
The Belfast South by-election was held on 4 March 1982 following the death of Robert Bradford,Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament for Belfast South.
John McCallister is a former Northern Irish Unionist politician who was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 2007 to 2016.
Ian Milne is an Irish republican politician from Northern Ireland.
The 2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 5 May 2005 and all 18 seats in Northern Ireland were contested. 1,139,993 people were eligible to vote,down 51,016 from the 2001 general election. 63.49% of eligible voters turned out,down 5.1 percentage points from the last general election.
A by-election for the UK House of Commons constituency of Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland was held on 7 March 2013. The election was triggered by the resignation of Martin McGuinness,who had been elected to the seat in 1997 as the Sinn Féin candidate. The election was won by Francie Molloy,also of Sinn Féin.
Margaret Elizabeth Rosemary Barton is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and former schoolteacher who has been a Fermanagh and Omagh Councillor for the Erne North DEA since October 2024,having previously represented the area from 2014 to 2016. Barton was also a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 2016 to 2022. She lost her seat in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election,and was succeeded by The Lord Elliot of Ballinamallard.
Eóin Tennyson is a Northern Irish politician who has been the deputy leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland since October 2024. He succeeded former deputy leader Stephen Farry who resigned from the position in 2024. He has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann since 2022,where he defeated former Social Democratic and Labour Party incumbent Dolores Kelly to become the youngest MLA for the constituency.
