United Kingdom general election, 2005

The election in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, the election was dominated in the unionist community by a battle between the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to be the region's largest unionist party in Parliament. Similarly, in the nationalist community, there was a battle between the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Féin.

Related Topics:
Northern Ireland - Ulster Unionist Party - Democratic Unionist Party - Social Democratic and Labour Party - Sinn Féin

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As expected, the DUP and Sinn Féin have emerged as the largest unionist and nationalist parties respectively, at the expense of the more moderate UUP and SDLP.

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The UUP fared particularly badly, with leader David Trimble losing Upper Bann, and the party's representation being reduced to one seat, North Down, held by Sylvia Hermon. Although the UUP won more MPs at the 2001 General Election, the defection of Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson to the DUP in January 2004 reversed the position. Other elections in the province have shown both a shift in votes towards the DUP but also a collapse of support for the cross-community Alliance Party which is likely to be more marked in a first past the post election and thus which may work in the UUP's favour. Shortly afterwards, on May 7, Trimble announced his resignation as party leader.

Related Topics:
David Trimble - Upper Bann - North Down - Sylvia Hermon - Alliance Party - First past the post - May 7

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In the nationalist community, recent elections have shown a clear shift in support from the SDLP to Sinn Féin but events such as the Northern Bank robbery and the murder of Robert McCartney have been used by Sinn Féin's opponents, including the British and Irish governments, to criticise their alleged links to the Provisional IRA, in the hope of reversing this trend.

Related Topics:
Northern Bank robbery - Murder of Robert McCartney - British - Irish - Provisional IRA

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Two of the three SDLP MPs elected in 2001 had retired, while all four of the Sinn Féin MPs stood again. Sinn Féin's victory over the SDLP in Newry and Armagh, giving it a fifth seat, will reduce the number of Northern Ireland MPs who vote in Westminster because Members of Parliament cannot formally take their seats until they swear allegiance to the Queen (which Sinn Féin members refuse to do). The big shock of the election came in South Belfast where the SDLP won the traditionally unionist seat, aided by a split between the two big unionist parties. This, together with their retention of two other seats did much to boost the party's fortunes and morale when many commentators had been predicting a disaster as great as that which met the UUP.

Related Topics:
Newry and Armagh - South Belfast

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See also the list of parties standing in Northern Ireland.

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Jeffrey Donaldson defection source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3368223.stm

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