Contest leads to battle for single unionist seat in SD

From 1998 onwards, two unionists had been elected in each Assembly poll until the reduction in the number of seats from six down to five in 2017.

At that time, the drop in seats came at the expense of the then sitting UUP MLA Harold McKee.

This time, Mr McKee is contesting the election for the TUV, with the UUP selecting Jill McCauley.

In 2017, Sinn Fein pair Sinead Ennis and Chris Hazard made it across the line on the first count without the need for transfers.

Mr Hazard was replaced by Emma Rogan, when Mr Hazard won the Westminster seat in the 2017 Westminster election.

The SDLP’s Sinead Bradley and Colin McGrath made it across the line in 2017, with Mr McGrath edging out the Alliance Party’s Patrick Brown after the seventh count.

While the forthcoming election looks set to come down to a three-way battle for a single seat for unionists, the DUP’s selection of candidate follows a tumultuous year of internal division for the party.

In June, two councillors quit the party over concerns about the direction it was taking under the then leader Edwin Poots.

One of the councillors was Diane Forsythe’s father, Glyn Hanna. The other was Kathryn Owen.

At the time, Mr Hana had warned: “The DUP need to realise it is 2021 and that ladies are up there and you cannot treat them in this particular way.”

Mrs Owen, meanwhile, claimed women and moderates in the party were being left “voiceless”.

But in September, the pair returned to the party following Mr Poots’ short-lived reign as DUP leader and accepted an olive branch extended by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.