| Electorate | Seats | Total Poll | Turnout | Valid Poll | Spoiled Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 74,240 | 1 | 40,745 | 54.88% | 40,452 | 293 |
Vote Distribution
Left Right
| Candidate | 1 |
|---|---|
|
|
17674 |
|
|
12062 |
|
|
4274 |
|
|
2877 |
|
|
1413 |
|
|
1206 |
|
|
946 |
Democratic Unionist Party
Phillip Brett was elected to the NI Assembly in 2022 and chairs the Economy Committee, having previously served as councillor for the Glengormley area of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council. Mr Brett also ran Nigel Dodds' unsuccessful Westminster campaign in 2019. His brother Gavin was murdered by the UDA in a 2001 shooting outside a GAA club.
Traditional Unionist Voice
David Clarke is a councillor on Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, representing the Carrick Castle DEA. He grew up in Newtownabbey and works as a special educational needs primary school teacher. He quit the DUP earlier this year claiming he faced “bullying” which left him in hospital. The party didn’t comment on his allegations, but said it “wished him well”.
People Before Profit
Fiona Ferguson was a Belfast City councillor for the Oldpark DEA from 2019 until 2023, when she lost her seat despite increasing her first preference vote. Ms Ferguson said she is standing in this election with an "uncompromising" position "on the question of Palestinian liberation" and has previously urged students at Queen's University to call for the removal of Hillary Clinton from her role as chancellor over her opposition to an Israeli ceasefire.
Sinn Fein
The son of a Belfast solicitor murdered by loyalist paramilitaries and a solicitor himself, John Finucane became the first nationalist MP for North Belfast in 2019 when he defeated the DUP's Nigel Dodds by fewer than 2,000 votes, taking the seat Dodds had held since 2001. His campaign was boosted after the SDLP and Green Party stood aside in the aftermath of Brexit. Mr Finucane was elected as Lord Mayor of Belfast City Council in 2019. He is a former St Malachy's College classmate of election rival and Green Party NI leader Mal O'Hara.
Alliance Party
Nuala McAllister is an MLA for North Belfast, elected in 2022 at the expense of SDLP deputy leader Nichola Mallon by a margin of 991 votes. She served as the Lord Mayor of Belfast in 2017-2018, the first young mother to be sworn in for the role. She ran in the 2019 General Election but finished a distant third behind Sinn Fein's John Finucane and the DUP's Nigel Dodds.
Green Party
The leader of the Green Party (NI), Mal O'Hara served as a Belfast City councillor for the Castle district from 2019 until 2023. He was elected unopposed to Seanad Éireann in April this year in a by-election to replace Sinn Fein's Niall Ó Donnghaile, who resigned for health reasons. Born in north Belfast, Mr O'Hara was a classmate of election rival John Finucane at St Malachy's College.
Social Democratic and Labour Party
Carl Whyte is currently in his second term on Belfast City Council, representing the Castle DEA in the north of the city. Mr Whyte is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, John Hopkins University, and Queen's University Belfast. Prior to being elected, he worked in finance and economics before founding a communications consultancy in 2011.
