Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Buchanan's first electoral contest was at the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election,in which he was a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) candidate for the Mid Ulster constituency. [2] He was the last candidate elected in the constituency,unseating the incumbent MLA,and Buchanan's running mate,Ian McCrea. [3] [4] [5]
Buchanan was re-elected at the March 2017 Assembly election,taking 9,568 first-preferences (19.3%). [6] [7] Notably,he became the only unionist candidate to be returned in Mid Ulster,following a reduction in the number of MLAs in each constituency,leading to the Ulster Unionists' Sandra Overend losing her seat. [8]
Buchanan contested Mid Ulster at the June 2017 general election,where he came a distant second to Sinn Féin’s Francie Molloy,with 12,565 votes (26.9%). [9] [10]
At the 2019 general election,Buchanan again finished second to Molloy,though his share of the vote dropped by 2.4%. [11] [12]
In November 2021,Buchanan was called "disgraceful" by a fellow MLA for attempting to link the Gaelic Athletic Association to dissident Irish republicans. SDLP MLA Justin McNulty accused Buchanan of "stirring up the pot of sectarian tensions". [13]
At the 2022 Assembly election,he was the fourth candidate returned in Mid Ulster,and received 16.5% of first-preferences. [14] [15] [16]
Buchanan’s share of the vote declined further to 20.2% at the 2024 general election,though still finished as the runner-up in the constituency. [17] [18]
