is a
Parliamentary Constituency in the
House Of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the
Northern Ireland Assembly .
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 .
At the time of writing the
Boundary Commission has published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. For East Londonderry, it proposes to transfer two rural wards in
Derry district from the
Foyle Constituency . However the proposals are likely to come under public scrutiny and it is possible that arguments will be successfully made for maintaining co-terminous boundaries with local government districts.
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 (constituency) .
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 .
| |
Ulster Unionist Party
|
| |
David McClarty
|
| |
7,498
|
| |
211
|
| |
-63
|
|
| |
Social Democratic and Labour Party
|
| |
John Dallat
|
| |
6,077
|
| |
171
|
| |
-37
|
|
| |
Sinn Féin
|
| |
Billy Leonard
|
| |
5,709
|
| |
161
|
| |
+05
|
|
| |
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
|
| |
Yvonne Boyle
|
| |
924
|
| |
26
|
| |
-15
|
|
| |
Independent
|
| |
Malcolm Samuel
|
| |
71
|
| |
02
|
| |
+02
|
|
| |
Democratic Unionist Party
|
| |
+85
|
|
| |
Social Democratic and Labour Party
|
| |
John Dallat
|
| |
8,298
|
| |
208
|
| |
-09
|
|
| |
Sinn Féin
|
| |
Francie Brolly
|
| |
6,221
|
| |
156
|
| |
+65
|
|
| |
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
|
| |
Yvonne Boyle
|
| |
1,625
|
| |
41
|
| |
-23
|
|
| |
Democratic Unionist Party
|
| |
Ulster Unionist Party
|
|
| |
Social Democratic and Labour Party
|
| |
Arthur Doherty
|
| |
8,273
|
| |
220
|
| |
-04
|
|
| |
Sinn Féin
|
| |
Malachy O'Kane
|
| |
3,463
|
| |
90
|
| |
-11
|
|
| |
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
|
| |
Yvonne Boyle
|
| |
2,427
|
| |
60
|
| |
-08
|
|
| |
Conservative Party (UK)
|
| |
James Holmes
|
| |
436
|
| |
10
|
| |
-20
|
|
| |
Natural Law Party
|
| |
Clare Gallen
|
| |
100
|
| |
026
|
| |
+026
|
|
| |
Ulster Unionist Party
|
| |
-238
|
|
| |
Social Democratic and Labour Party
|
| |
Arthur Doherty
|
| |
11,843
|
| |
224
|
|
| |
Sinn Féin
|
| |
Pauline Davey-Kennedy
|
| |
5,320
|
| |
101
|
|
| |
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
|
| |
Paddy McGowan
|
| |
3,613
|
| |
68
|
|
| |
Conservative Party (UK)
|
| |
Alan Elder
|
| |
1,589
|
| |
30
|
| |
+3
|
|
The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the
2003 Election are:
In the
1998 Election the six MLAs elected were:
Changes
1998 -
2003
In the
1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from East Londonderry. They were as follows:
