2000 South Antrim by-election

UK parliamentary by-election October 2020 November 2013 2000 South Antrim by-election United Kingdom parliamentary no 1997 United Kingdom general election 1997 2001 United Kingdom general election 2001 21 September 2000 43% William McCrea 150x150px Democratic Unionist Party 11,601 38.0% New David Burnside Ulster Unionist Party 10,779 35.3% 22.2pp Donovan McClelland Social Democratic and Labour Party 3,496 11.4% 4.7pp Martin Meehan Sinn Féin 2,611 8.5% 3.0pp David Ford 150x150px Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 2,031 6.6% 5.0pp MP Clifford Forsythe William McCrea Ulster Unionist Party Democratic Unionist Party A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of South Antrim was held on 21 September 2000 following the death of incumbent Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament (MP) Clifford Forsythe. It was won by William McCrea of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who gained the seat from the UUP. Candidates The election arose after the Good Friday Agreement, with prisoner releases having started, but before the pro-agreement parties had reached an agreement on the shape of a devolved government. After a disputatious selection contest, the London-based public relations executive David Burnside was selected as the new Ulster Unionist Party candidate. Burnside claimed to have supported the Agreement at the time of its negotiation but to have since turned against the way in which it was being implemented. However this was at odds with his party's policy. This was seized upon by the Democratic Unionist Party candidate, former Mid-Ulster MP Rev. William McCrea in campaigning. McCrea campaigned on a policy of refusal to co-operate with Sinn Féin in the absence of progress on arms decommissioning. The Northern Ireland Unionist Party initially selected Norman Boyd, who was a local member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (elected as a member of the United Kingdom Unionist Party). However, during the campaign Boyd withdrew, urging voters not to divide the anti-agreement vote, and supported McCrea. Although the Progressive Unionist Party had secured 8.7% of the vote at the previous general election, they did not stand on this occasion. The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland selected David Ford, who was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for the area and who had previously fought the seat in the 1997 general election. With all the Unionist candidates opposed to the Good Friday Agreement to some degree, Ford hoped to gain the support of pro Agreement unionist voters. However, with the Unionist parties fighting fiercely, Ford faced the difficult task of convincing voters that a vote for the Alliance was not wasted, especially when many who supported the Agreement argued that the best realistic result for maintaining it would be for Burnside to win the seat. The nationalist SDLP also ran their local assembly member, in this case Donovan McClelland. With the constituency overwhelmingly Protestant the SDLP had no chance of winning and much of the spotlight on them concerned their electoral battle with Sinn Féin as a prelude to forthcoming Assembly elections. Sinn Féin had no Assembly members but ran Martin Meehan, who had been their sole Assembly candidate the last time, in the hope of increasing his profile and building up their local organisation in preparation for a shot at the next election. The battle between McClelland and Meehan attracted much attention as it would indicate the movement of votes within the nationalist community between the two parties, though most agreed that it was always likely for the SDLP to come out on top in the highly middle-class constituency. In addition the Natural Law Party selected David Collins. This was to be one of the last occasions that the party would fight an election in Northern Ireland. Campaign With delays over the selection and the summer holiday intervening, polling day in the by-election was held off until 21 September, allowing extensive campaigning. The constituency is strongly Protestant and it was always clear that the real contest was between the two Unionist parties. Away from these two, interest was piqued by the advance of Sinn Féin, overtaking the Alliance in the number of votes won. Many believed that this heralded the former party subsequently taking the latter's Assembly seat in the next assembly election, but in the event Ford narrowly held on. Result 2000 South Antrim by-electionhttp://www.election.demon.co.uk/by1997.html Results of Byelections in the 1997–2002 Parliament Boothroyd David 5 October 2015 United Kingdom Election Results Democratic Unionist Party William McCrea 11,601 38.0 New Ulster Unionist Party David Burnside 10,779 35.3 −22.2 Social Democratic and Labour Party Donovan McClelland 3,496 11.4 −4.7 Sinn Féin Martin Meehan 2,611 8.5 +3.0 Alliance Party of Northern Ireland David Ford 2,031 6.6 −5.0 Natural Law Party David H. Collins 49 0.2 −0.3 822 2.7 N/A 30,567 43.0 -14.8 71,047 Democratic Unionist Party Ulster Unionist Party -5.7 General election result, 1997 General election 1997: South AntrimElection Data 1997 http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_1997.txt Electoral Calculus 18 October 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20111015054424/http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_1997.txt 15 October 2011 Ulster Unionist Party Clifford Forsythe 23,108 57.5 −13.9 Social Democratic and Labour Party Donovan McClelland 6,497 16.2 +3.4 Alliance Party of Northern Ireland David Ford 4,668 11.6 +0.7 Progressive Unionist Party Hugh Smyth 3,490 9.0 New Sinn Féin Henry Cushinan 2,229 5.5 +2.5 Natural Law Party Barbara A. Briggs 203 0.5 New 16,611 41.3 -16.8 40,195 57.8 -5.1 69,512 Ulster Unionist Party -8.2 See also List of United Kingdom by-elections References External links British Parliamentary By Elections: Campaign literature from the by-election A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers) Category:By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Antrim constituencies Category:2000 elections in the United Kingdom Category:2000 elections in Northern Ireland Category:20th century in County Antrim Category:September 2000 in the United Kingdom