2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

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All 18 Northern Irish seats to the House of Commons
Turnout	63.5% ()
First party Second party   Leader Ian Paisley Gerry Adams Party DUP Sinn Féin Leader since 30 September 1971 13 November 1983 Leader's seat North Antrim Belfast West Last election 5 seats, 22.5% 4 seats, 21.7% Seats won 9 5 Seat change 4 1 Popular vote 241,856 174,530 Percentage 33.7% 24.3% Swing 11.2% 2.6%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Mark Durkan David Trimble Party SDLP UUP Leader since 2001 28 August 1995 Leader's seat Foyle Upper Bann (defeated) Last election 3 seats, 21.0% 6 seats, 26.8% Seats won 3 1 Seat change 0 5 Popular vote 125,626 127,414 Percentage 17.5% 17.8% Swing 3.5% 9.0%
Colours on map indicate winning party for each constituency

The 2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 5 May 2005 and all 18 seats in Northern Ireland were contested. 1,139,993 people were eligible to vote, down 51,016 from the 2001 general election. 63.49% of eligible voters turned out, down 5.1 percentage points from the last general election.^[1]

The election resulted in the Ulster Unionist Party losing its place as the largest Northern Irish political party at Westminster, being replaced by the Democratic Unionist Party. Both the DUP and Sinn Féin increased their share of the vote as well as their number of seats. The Social Democratic and Labour Party were unable to regain its formerly held status as the largest nationalist political party in Northern Ireland, though they retained 3 seats overall, albeit with a reduced share of the vote.

Both John Hume and David Trimble, 1998 Nobel Peace Prize laureates for their roles in the Peace Process, did not remain MPs with Hume standing down in Foyle and Trimble losing his Upper Bann seat.^[2][3] The UUP's dismal electoral performance led to Trimble's resignation as leader.