East Londonderry

This constituency covers the boroughs of Coleraine and Limavady, therefore taking in Portrush and Portballintrae which actually happen to be in County Antrim.

In general the more densely populated countryside to the east and the larger towns tend to have unionist supporters, while the countryside in most of Limavady district and the town of Kilrea are mainly nationalist.

According to the 2005 local council results, East Londonderry will gain up to 3,000 SDLP voters from Foyle and the DUP could gain over 2,000.

To this end, the DUP are likely to retain the seat they have held since 2001 when Gregory Campbell defeated UUP’s William Ross by 1,901 votes. Ross had represented the constituency since it was formed in 1983 and he had been the MP for County Londonderry since 1974. Despite the increased portion of nationalist voters, Campbell will probably be well supported by the unionist Foyle voters. He may face a competition from the TUV, who claim that they have a lot of support on the ground here, so we can expect a candidate announcement from them soon.

Thomas Conway (SDLP), a rural councillor for Derry City Council, does have his sights set on the new nationalist voters from Banagher and Claudy. Sinn Féin has not yet announced its candidate.

Taking the 2007 Assembly elections as a mid-point, Sinn Féin were in second place behind the DUP’s 13,486 votes. They were 2,362 ahead of the SDLP’s 4,435 and 530 ahead of the UUP’s 6,267.

Replacing David McClarty, is the Unionist and Conservative agreed candidate, Lesley McAuley. The Portstewart hopeful, who is new to politics, heads up her own training and consultancy service.

Alliance, who usually poll around the 1,000-2,000 mark in this constituency, have selected Coleraine councillor Barney Fitzpatrick, who secured 1,401 votes in the 2007 Assembly elections.