Lord Mayor of Belfast and rising profile (2017–2022)
She was the Lord Mayor of Belfast in 2017–2018. She announced the theme of her mayoralty as 'Global Belfast'. She described her aim as promoting "Belfast as an open,inclusive and welcoming place to live and do business". McAllister garnered controversy for being outspoken in support of liberalising Northern Ireland's abortion laws,as well as due to her campaigning for marriage equality during her term as Lord Mayor. [7] Fellow Belfast City councillor Jim Rodgers called McAllister "one of the worst lord mayors we have ever had" for "failing to remain impartial". Alliance responded to criticism of McAllister by saying that she was "a breath of fresh air in the role and an excellent role model for young women and working mums everywhere". [8]
McAllister ran in both the 2016 and 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly elections as the Alliance candidate for Belfast North,where she was the runner up both times –7th (when the constituency had 6 seats) and 6th (when the constituency moved to 5 seats) –missing out on a seat by 1,012 and then just 556 votes. [9]
She also stood - unsuccessfully - for election in the Belfast North Westminster constituency at the 2019 UK general election. She came in a distant third place with 4,824 votes,equating to 9.8% of the total vote. However,this was an increase of 4.4% compared to the previous Alliance candidate in 2017 (her partner –Sam Nelson). [10]
Member of the Legislative Assembly (2022–)
Nuala McAllister was Alliance's candidate for the 2022 Assembly election in Belfast North. She polled 4,381 first preference votes and was elected on the 11th count. She gained the seat held by SDLP Deputy Leader and Infrastructure Minister,Nichola Mallon,by a margin of 991 votes,in one of 9 gains for Alliance in the election. [11]
She contested Belfast North at the 2024 general election,coming third with 4,274 votes (10.6%). [12] [13]
