East Londonderry (UK Parliament constituency)

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For other constituencies of the same name, see East Londonderry.
East Londonderry
County constituency
East Londonderry shown within Northern Ireland
Created: 1983
MP: Gregory Campbell
Party: Democratic Unionist
Type: House of Commons
Districts: Coleraine, Limavady
EP constituency: Northern Ireland

East Londonderry is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries

The seat was created in boundary changes in 1983, as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17, and was predominantly made up from the old Londonderry constituency. Since further revisions in 1995 (when it lost parts of the district of Magherafelt to the Mid Ulster constituency) it now covers exactly the same area as the districts of Coleraine and Limavady. The inclusion of all of Coleraine Borough means that part of the East Londonderry constituency is actually in County Antrim.

[edit] Boundary changes

Following alterations to the parliamentary boundaries of all Northern Ireland constituencies, the East Londonderry constituency will be formed by the following local government areas, as confirmed by the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order [1].

  • The entire local government districts of Limavady and Coleraine
  • Banagher, and Claudy, from the Derry district

[edit] History

The constituency is overwhelming unionist, though in many elections nationalists have polled close to 33% of the vote. The main interest in elections has been the contest between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. The UUP were normally ahead of the DUP until the 2001 general election when the DUP finally overtook them.

The 2001 election was seen at a province wide level as a battle over the Good Friday Agreement with the DUP opposed to it and most of the UUP in favour, however ironically this situation was seemingly reversed in East Londonderry, where the sitting Ulster Unionist MP, William Ross, was completely opposed to all involvement with the Agreement and its institutions, whilst the DUP candidate, Gregory Campbell, was a minister in the Executive set up by the Agreement. Many commentators joked that the DUP's gain meant that East Londonderry now had a more pro-Agreement MP than before.

For the history of the equivalent constituency prior to 1983, please see Londonderry (UK Parliament constituency).

[edit] Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 2001 general election is Gregory Campbell of the Democratic Unionist Party. In that election he defeated William Ross of the Ulster Unionist Party who had represented East Londonderry since 1983 and its predecessor seat of Londonderry between 1974 and 1983.

[edit] Elections

General Election 2005: East Londonderry
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Unionist Party Gregory Campbell 15,225 42.9 +10.8
Ulster Unionist David McClarty 7,498 21.1 -6.3
Social Democratic and Labour John Dallat 6,077 17.1 -3.7
Sinn Féin Billy Leonard 5,709 16.1 +0.5
Alliance Yvonne Boyle 924 2.6 -1.5
Independent Malcolm Samuel 71 0.2 N/A
Majority 7,727 21.8
Turnout 35,504 60.3 -5.9
Democratic Unionist Party hold Swing +8.5
General Election 2001: East Londonderry
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Unionist Party Gregory Campbell 12,813 32.1 +6.5
Ulster Unionist William Ross 10,912 27.4 -8.2
Social Democratic and Labour John Dallat 8,298 20.8 -0.9
Sinn Féin Francie Brolly 6,221 15.6 +6.5
Alliance Yvonne Boyle 1,625 4.1 -2.3
Majority 1,901 4.7
Turnout 39,869 66.2 +1.4
Democratic Unionist Party gain from Ulster Unionist Swing
General Election 1997: East Londonderry
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist William Ross 13,558 36.0 -29.26
Democratic Unionist Party Gregory Campbell 9,767 26.0 +25.6
Social Democratic and Labour Arthur Doherty 8,273 22.0 +1.83
Sinn Féin Malachy O'Kane 3,463 9.0 +5.59
Alliance Yvonne Boyle 2,427 6.0 -0.94
Conservative James Holmes 436 1.0 -2.41
Natural Law Clare Gallen 100 0.26 N/A
National Democrats Ian Anderson 81 0.21 N/A
Majority 3,794 10.0 -25.2
Turnout 38,102 64.77 -5.03
Ulster Unionist hold Swing -23.8

1997 changes are compared to the notional figures from 1992[2]

Notional 1992 UK General Election Result : East Londonderry
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist N/A 23,287 64.9 N/A
Social Democratic and Labour N/A 7,134 19.9 N/A
Alliance N/A 2,634 7.3 N/A
Conservative N/A 1,589 4.4 N/A
Sinn Féin N/A 1,261 3.5 N/A
Majority 16,153 45.0 N/A


General Election 1992: East Londonderry
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist William Ross 30,370 57.6
Social Democratic and Labour Arthur Doherty 11,843 22.4
Sinn Féin Pauline Davey-Kennedy 5,320 10.1
Alliance Paddy McGowan 3,613 6.8
Conservative Alan Elder 1,589 3.0 N/A
Majority 18,527 35.2
Turnout 52,735 69.8 +0.7
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1987: East Londonderry
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist William Ross 29,532 60.5
Social Democratic and Labour Arthur Doherty 9,375 19.2
Sinn Féin John Davey 5,464 11.2
Alliance Paddy McGowan 3,237 6.6
Workers' Party Francie Donnelly 935 1.9
Ecology Malcolm Samuel 281 0.6 N/A
Majority 20,157 35.2
Turnout 48,824 68.7
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
East Londonderry by-election, 1986
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist William Ross 30,922 93.9 + 56.0
"For the Anglo-Irish Agreement" "Peter Barry" 2,001 6.1 N/A
Majority 28,921 87.8 + 73.7
Turnout 32,923 46.8 - 29.5
Ulster Unionist hold Swing N/A
General Election 1983: East Londonderry
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist William Ross 19,469 37.9 N/A
Democratic Unionist Party James McClure 12,207 23.8 N/A
Social Democratic and Labour Arthur Doherty 9,397 18.3 N/A
Sinn Féin John Davey 7,073 13.8 N/A
Alliance Martha McGrath 2,401 4.7 N/A
Workers' Party Francie Donnelly 819 1.6 N/A
Majority 7,262 14.1 N/A
Turnout 51,366 76.3 N/A
Ulster Unionist hold Swing N/A

[edit] See also

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