Elections to the United Kingdom Parliament held in Northern Ireland
General Election of Thursday 6 May 2010
Background
It was no surprise when, on Tuesday 6 April 2010, Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament to pave the way for a General Election on Thursday 6 May 2010.
Boundaries
There have been boundary changes affecting about 5% of the electorate in Northern Ireland. A total of 18 constituencies has been retained, with the same names as previously. Twelve of these have been affected by boundary changes. Details of the new boundaries can be found on the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland website. Maps of the new constituencies can be found on the Boundary Commission site.
Changes since 2005
There have been no by elections in Northern Ireland since 2005. Lady Sylvia Hermon (Down North) resigned from the Ulster Unionist Party on 25 March 2010, announcing she would contest the general election as an independent.
Summary of 2010 results
There were two changes of party representation compared with 2005, with the Alliance gaining Belfast East from DUP and an independent unionist gaining Down North from the Conservative and Unionists.
There were four new MPs elected: Ian Paisley Jnr in Antrim North, Naomi Long in Belfast East, Margaret Ritchies in Down South, and Jim Shannon in Strangford. The only defeated outgoing MP was Peter Robinson in Belfast East.
There was a net loss of one seat for unionist parties when the DUP's Peter Robinson lost to Naomi Long of the Alliance in Belfast East.
 8 (-1),
 5 (-),
 3 (-),
 1 (+1),
 1 (+1),
 0 (-1)
If Northern Ireland MPs are involved in supporting a minority Government or entering coalition, Labour could probably count on 3 SDLP MPs and Sylvia Hermon. The Conservatives could probably solicit support from 8 DUP MPs. The single Alliance MP is likely to remain unaligned. As Sinn Fein do not sit in the House of Commons, their 5 seats help to lower the threshold for which an overal majority is required from 325 to 323 seats.
The official results from the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.
Constituencies
*Candidates elected for Sinn Féin do not take their seats in the House of Commons
§MPs who retired at 2010 election
By Elections
There have been two by elections since the 2010 Election: Belfast West on 6 June 2013 caused by the resignation of Gerry Adams (official result) and Ulster Mid on 7 March 2013 caused by the resignation of Martin McGuinness (official result).
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