2010 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

United Kingdom general election, 2010 (Northern Ireland)

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All 18 Northern Irish seats to the House of Commons
Turnout	58.0% ()
First party Second party   Leader Peter Robinson Gerry Adams Party Democratic Unionist Sinn Féin Leader since 31 May 2008 13 November 1983 Leader's seat Belfast East (defeated) Belfast West Last election 9 seats, 33.7% 5 seats, 24.3% Seats won 8 5 Seat change 1 0 Popular vote 168,216 171,942 Percentage 25.0% 25.5% Swing 8.7% 1.2%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Margaret Ritchie David Ford Party SDLP Alliance Leader since 7 February 2010 6 October 2001 Leader's seat South Down Did not stand[nb 1] Last election 3 seats, 17.5% 0 seats, 3.9% Seats won 3 1 Seat change 0 1 Popular vote 110,970 42,762 Percentage 16.5% 6.3% Swing 1.0% 2.4%
Colours on map indicate winning party for each constituency

The 2010 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland occurred on 6 May 2010 and all 18 seats in Northern Ireland were contested. 1,169,184 people were eligible to vote, up 29,191 from the 2005 general election. 57.99% of eligible voters turned out, down 5.5 percentage points from the last general election.^[1]

The election saw Sinn Féin win the most votes at a Westminster election for the first time and saw the Democratic Unionist Party win the most seats. The Ulster Unionist Party fought the election as allies of the UK Conservative Party, under the banner of Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - New Force. The UUP failed to win any seats for the first time in over 100 years.

The election also resulted in the cross community Alliance Party of Northern Ireland gaining its first elected Member of Parliament at the expense of DUP leader, Peter Robinson. The election also marked the first time since the Troubles that the counts in the eighteen constituencies were held overnight, at the same time as in the rest of the United Kingdom instead of the Friday afternoon.

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