Sinn Féin is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has seven members in the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) and two members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
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.
Alasdair McDonnell is a retired Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland who was leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2011 to 2015,having served as deputy leader between 2004 and 2010. He was the Member of Parliament for Belfast South from 2005 to 2017,and also a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from 1998 to 2015. He graduated from medical school at University College Dublin in 1974.
Alex Maskey is an Irish former politician who served as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2020 to 2024 and was the first member of Sinn Féin to serve as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2002 to 2003. He was Sinn Féin's longest sitting councillor,representing the Laganbank electoral area of Belfast. He was also an MLA for Belfast West for two periods,and also for Belfast South. He reportedly retired "from frontline politics" in early 2024.
Martin Morgan is an Irish former politician for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Married to Dympna,a double graduate from the Queen's University of Belfast and a qualified Master's Level Social Worker,Morgan has been a political activist since his teenage years.
Mary Dolores Kelly is an Irish nationalist former politician who served as deputy leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician from 2011 to 2015. She was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann from 2003 until 2016,and again from 2017 until 2022.
Seán McCarthy was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. A teacher by profession,he was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork South-East constituency at the 1944 general election but lost his seat at the 1948 general election running in the Cork Borough constituency. He was re-elected for the Cork Borough constituency at the 1951 general election. McCarthy was elected from the Cork South constituency at the 1954 Irish general election and the 1957 Irish general election. The last time McCarthy was elected was to represent the Cork Mid constituency at the 1961 Irish general election.
William Joseph Humphrey is a former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Belfast from 2010 to 2022. He was a Belfast City Councillor for the Court DEA from 2005 to 2014.
Colum Eastwood is an Irish nationalist politician who has served as Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) since 2015. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Foyle since 2019,served in Northern Ireland Assembly from 2011 to 2019 and served on Derry City Council from 2005 to 2011.
Nichola Mallon is a former politician from Northern Ireland who served as Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2017- 2022. She served as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast North from 2016 to 2022 and as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2014 to 2015. She was elected as Deputy Leader of the SDLP in 2017. She was appointed Minister for Infrastructure on 11 January 2020,before being removed from office after losing her seat at the 2022 Assembly election.
Claire Aisling Hanna is an Irish politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast South and Mid Down since 2019. A member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP),she previously served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from 2015 until her election to Westminster.
Christopher David Matthew Stalford was a Northern Irish politician who was a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Belfast from the 2016 election until his death in 2022.
Clare Bailey is a Northern Irish activist and former politician who was the Leader of Green Party Northern Ireland from November 2018 to August 2022,having been deputy leader of the party from 2014 to 2017. Bailey was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from 2016 to 2022.
The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months after the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed due to the resignation of the First Minister,Paul Givan of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP),in protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.
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.
John Finucane is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and solicitor. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast North since the 2019 general election. He has never taken his seat in Westminster,due to his party's longstanding policy of abstentionism.
Deirdre Hargey is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South since 2020. She previously served as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2018 to 2019,and as a Belfast City Councillor for the Botanic DEA from 2011 to 2020. Hargey was Minister for Communities from 2020 to 2022 and briefly served as interim Minister for the Economy in May 2024.
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.
