2015 Social Democratic and Labour Party leadership election

A leadership election was held for the Social Democratic and Labour Party of Northern Ireland between 12 and 15 November 2015. The result was a victory for Colum Eastwood.

2015 Social Democratic and Labour Party leadership election
12–15 November 2015
 
Candidate Colum Eastwood Alasdair McDonnell
1st pref. 172 133
Percentage 56.4% 43.6%

Leader before election

Alasdair McDonnell

Elected Leader

Colum Eastwood

Background

Following poor election results in the 2014 local elections, the 2014 European Parliament election and the 2015 Westminster election, McDonnell resisted calls to stand down.[1] Initially no challenger came forward, though early in June it was rumoured that eventual challenger Colum Eastwood would stand.[2] It was not until late September that Eastwood confirmed that he would stand against McDonnell.[3]

Candidates

Two SDLP members announced they would stand in the leadership election. These were:

Results

Below is a table summarising the results of the leadership election. With just two candidates there was only one round of votes.

2015 Social Democratic and Labour Party leadership election[6]
PartyCandidateFPv%Count
1
SDLP Colum Eastwood 56.4 Y 172
SDLP Alasdair McDonnell 43.6 N 133
Electorate: 315   Valid: 305   Spoilt:     Quota: 154   Turnout:  

    References

    1. Gerry Moriarty (2015-05-14). "SDLP leader resists calls to stand down". Irishtimes.com. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
    2. Clarke, Liam (2015-06-16). "SDLP deputy Dolores Kelly calls for leader Alasdair McDonnell to stand down". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
    3. "The ITV Hub - The home of ITV". U.tv. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
    4. "SDLP leadership contest result to be announced later". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
    5. Sheena Jackson Twitter: @sheenamjackson (2015-10-30). "Mark Durkan MP joins Seamus Mallon in support of Eastwood as SDLP leader". Derry Journal. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
    6. "SDLP leadership: Colum Eastwood wins contest against Alasdair McDonnell". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.