The Northern Ireland Westminster Election, 2010

Abstract

The Northern Irish Westminster general election of 6 May 2010 witnessed a mixture of striking episodes and more mundane continuities in Northern Ireland. Not for the first time in the history of the Northern state, these changes reflected the ethnic divide – the leaders of the two main unionist parties failed to win a seat (indeed, the First Minister and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Peter Robinson, was unseated), as did the leader of a much-vaunted unionist insurgency, while nationalist politics remained largely as-you-were. The election reinforced divisions at the communal and party political level that have been a hallmark of the 1998 settlement. As such, one of the main results of the general election was to sound a starting pistol for the race for control of the symbolically important post of First Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections scheduled for 2011.

Keywords:

• Northern Ireland
• 2010 general election
• party politics

Notes

The author wishes to thank Professor Arthur Aughey for this formulation.