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).
Carrickfergus is a large town in County Antrim,Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough,11 miles (18 km) from Belfast. The town had a population of 28,141 at the 2021 census. It is County Antrim's oldest town and one of the oldest towns in Ireland as a whole. Carrickfergus Castle,built in the late 12th century at the behest of Anglo-Norman knight John de Courcy,was the capital of the Earldom of Ulster. After the earldom's collapse,it remained the only English outpost in Ulster for the next four centuries. Carrickfergus was the administrative centre for Carrickfergus Borough Council,before this was amalgamated into the Mid and East Antrim District Council in 2015,and forms part of the Belfast Metropolitan Area. It is also a townland of 65 acres,a civil parish and a barony.
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland,or simply Alliance,is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. Following the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election,it was the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly,holding seventeen seats,and broke through by placing third in first preference votes in the 2019 European Parliament election and polling third-highest regionally at the 2019 UK general election. The party won one of the three Northern Ireland seats in the European Parliament,and one seat,North Down,in the House of Commons,the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Roy Beggs Jr is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician,serving as a Mid and East Antrim Councillor for the Larne Lough DEA since 2023. Beggs served as a Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2011 to 2016,and 2020 to 2022. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 1998 to 2022.
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.
David Ford is a former Northern Irish politician,who was leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland from October 2001 until October 2016 and was Northern Ireland Minister of Justice from April 2010 until May 2016. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Antrim from 1998 to 2018.
East Antrim is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. It is currently represented by Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party.
South Antrim is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Robin Swann (UUP)
Seán Neeson is a politician in Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2001,and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 1998 to 2011.
David Hilditch was a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 1998 to 2023.
The Northern Ireland Conservatives is a section of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party that operates in Northern Ireland. The Conservatives are the only major British party to field candidates within Northern Ireland and typically contests only a fraction of seats in elections. The party won 0.03% of the vote in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election and 0.1% of the vote in the 2024 United Kingdom General election in Northern Ireland.
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. In common with all other Northern Irish unionist parties,the TUV's political programme has as its sine qua non the preservation of Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom. A founding precept of the party is that "nothing which is morally wrong can be politically right".
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.
Oliver McMullan is an Irish Sinn Féin politician,serving as a Causeway Coast and Glens councillor for The Glens DEA since 2019. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 2011 to 2017. He was also a Larne Borough Councillor,between May and November 2011.
The first election to Mid and East Antrim District Council,part of the Northern Ireland local elections on 22 May 2014,returned 40 members to the newly formed council via Single Transferable Vote. The Democratic Unionist Party were the largest party in both first-preference votes and seats.
The Ulster Unionist Party held the majority of Northern Ireland seats in most elections for the Westminster Parliament between 1922 and 2001. Since then its representation has been low or non-existent,having been eclipsed by the Democratic Unionist Party. It always had an absolute majority in the Stormont Parliament (1921–1972);since that Parliament was replaced by the Northern Ireland Assembly it has had a substantial minority representation there. Its share of the vote in Northern Ireland local government elections has tended to diminish,so that there too it is no longer the largest party. Finally,the party has always held one of the three Northern Ireland seats in the European Parliament. Its share of the Northern Ireland vote in the most recent elections to these bodies has been between 10.5% and 16.1%.
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.
John Stewart is an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and businessman who has been a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim since 2017. Stewart is Deputy Chairperson of the Assembly's Infrastructure Committee.
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.
Danny Donnelly is an Alliance Party politician,serving as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim since May 2022.
