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 Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) and two members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland,an administrative branch of the legislature –the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998,which followed the Good Friday Agreement. The executive is referred to in the legislation as the Executive Committee of the assembly and is an example of consociationalist ("power-sharing") government.
Mark Durkan is a retired Irish nationalist politician from Northern Ireland. Durkan was the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from November 2001 to October 2002,and the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2001 to 2010. He contested the Dublin constituency for Fine Gael at the 2019 European Parliament election.
The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The agreement was signed at Northcote House in Sunningdale Park,located in Sunningdale,Berkshire,on 9 December 1973. Unionist opposition,violence and a general strike caused the collapse of the agreement in May 1974.
The Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (VUPP),informally known as Ulster Vanguard,was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1972 and 1978. Led by William Craig,the party emerged from a split in the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and was closely affiliated with several loyalist paramilitary groups. The party was set up in opposition to power sharing with Irish nationalist parties. It opposed the Sunningdale Agreement and was involved in extra-parliamentary activity against the agreement. However,in 1975,during discussions on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland in the constitutional convention,William Craig suggested the possibility of voluntary power sharing with the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party. In consequence the party split,with dissenters forming the United Ulster Unionist Party. Thereafter Vanguard declined and following poor results in the 1977 local government elections,Craig merged the remainder of Vanguard into the UUP in February 1978.
Dr Alasdair McDonnell is an Irish politician who is a member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP),and was its leader from 2011 to 2015. He was the Member of Parliament for Belfast South from 2005 to 2017 and also a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland for Belfast South from 1998 to 2015. He graduated from medical school at University College Dublin in 1974.
William John Beattie is a former minister of religion and Unionist politician in Northern Ireland.
Margaret Mary Ritchie,Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick,is an Irish politician who was the Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) from 2010 to 2011. She was previously a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Down from 2003 to 2012,and was the Minister for Social Development in the Northern Ireland Executive from 2007 to 2010. Ritchie was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Down from 2010 to 2017. She became a life peer in 2019 initially as a non-affiliated member,and then from October 2021 as a Labour member.
Mary Dolores Kelly is a Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician. She was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann from 2003 until 2016,and again from 2017 until 2022.
Denis Haughey is a former Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland.
John Turnley was an Irish politician and activist. Originally from a unionist background,he was gradually drawn to Irish nationalism and became a republican activist. He was assassinated in 1980 by loyalists in Carnlough,County Antrim.
The first minister and deputy first minister of Northern Ireland are the joint heads of government of Northern Ireland,leading the Northern Ireland Executive and with overall responsibility for the running of the Executive Office. Despite the titles of the two offices,the two positions have the same governmental power,resulting in a duumvirate;the deputy First Minister,customarily spelled with a lowercase d,is not subordinate to the First Minister. Created under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement,both were initially nominated and appointed by members of the Northern Ireland Assembly on a joint ticket by a cross-community vote,under consociational principles. That process was changed following the 2006 St Andrews Agreement,such that the First Minister now is nominated by the largest party overall,and the deputy First Minister is nominated by the largest party from the next largest community block.
Leslie Morrell is a former unionist politician in Northern Ireland.
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.
The fourth Northern Ireland Assembly was the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland following the 2011 assembly election on 5 May 2011. This iteration of the elected Assembly convened for the first time on 12 May 2011 in Parliament Buildings in Stormont,and ran for a full term.
Colum Eastwood is an Irish nationalist politician serving 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.
An election for the leadership of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) was held 4–5 November 2011. Alasdair McDonnell won the leadership election and was announced the new leader of the SDLP on 5 November 2011.
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.
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.
