Back Partit de l'Aliança d'Irlanda del Nord Catalan Alianční strana Severního Irska Czech Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Welsh Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Danish Alliance Party of Northern Ireland German Κόμμα Συμμαχίας της Βόρειας Ιρλανδίας Greek Partido de la Alianza de Irlanda del Norte Spanish Ipar Irlandako Aliantza Alderdia Basque حزب اتحاد ایرلند شمالی Persian Alliance Party (Pohjois-Irlanti) Finnish

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Páirtí Comhghuaillíochta Thuaisceart Éireann
AbbreviationAPNI
LeaderNaomi Long MLA
Deputy LeaderStephen Farry MP
PresidentDavid Alderdice
ChairpersonHelena Young
FoundersOliver Napier
Bob Cooper
John Ferguson
Basil Glass
Founded21 April 1970
Preceded byUlster Liberal Party
New Ulster Movement
Headquarters7 Farmley Road
Newtownabbey
BT36 7TY
Youth wingAlliance Youth
LGBT wingAlliance LGBT+
IdeologyLiberalism[1][2][3]
Nonsectarianism[4][5]
Pro-Europeanism[6]
Political positionCentre[7] to centre-left[8]
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (associate)
International affiliationLiberal International
National affiliationLiberal Democrats[9]
Colours  Yellow
  Black
House of Commons
(NI seats)
1 / 18
House of Lords[a]
0 / 786
NI Assembly
17 / 90
Local government in Northern Ireland[10]
67 / 462
Website
allianceparty.org

The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal[3] and centrist[7] political party in Northern Ireland. Following the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it was the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, holding seventeen seats, and broke through by placing third in first preference votes in the 2019 European Parliament election and polling third-highest regionally at the 2019 UK general election. The party won one of the three Northern Ireland seats in the European Parliament, and one seat, North Down, in the House of Commons,[11] the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.[12]

Founded in 1970 from the New Ulster Movement, the Alliance Party originally represented moderate and non-sectarian unionism. However, over time, particularly in the 1990s, it moved towards neutrality on the Union, and came to represent wider liberal and non-sectarian concerns. It supports the Good Friday Agreement but maintains a desire for the reform of the political system towards a non-sectarian future and, in the Northern Ireland Assembly, it is designated as neither Unionist nor Irish nationalist, but "Other" or "United Community".

The Alliance Party won its first seat in the UK House of Commons in the 2010 general election, unseating the former East Belfast MP Peter Robinson, First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Naomi Long was the first MP from the Alliance Party since Stratton Mills, who joined the party from the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in 1973. However, the DUP regained the seat at the 2015 general election, following an electoral pact with the UUP. In the 2019 general election, Alliance regained its presence in the House of Commons when Stephen Farry won the North Down seat vacated by the independent unionist, Sylvia Hermon. Earlier that year, the party's leader, Naomi Long, won the party's first seat in the European Parliament in the last European election before Brexit. Under Long's leadership, the Alliance Party exceeded expectations in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election and gained numerous seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly.[13]

The Alliance Party is a member of the Liberal International[14] and Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe,[15] and is aligned with the Liberal Democrats in Great Britain.[16]

  1. ^ "Parties | Northern Ireland Political Parties". BBC News. 14 October 1998. Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  2. ^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Northern Ireland/UK". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b Deacon, Russell (2012). Devolution in the United Kingdom. Edinburgh University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-7486-6973-8. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  4. ^ "History – NI: The Troubles – Fact Files". BBC. 18 September 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Alliance party". Politics.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  6. ^ Brendan Hughes (22 February 2016). "EU referendum: Where Northern Ireland parties stand". Irish News. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  7. ^ a b Cochrane, Feargal (2014). "The Future of the Union II: Northern Ireland". In Justin Fisher; David Denver; John Benyon (eds.). Central Debates in British Politics. Routledge. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-317-87494-2.
  8. ^ Jarrett, Henry (2016). "The Single Transferable Vote and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland". Representation. 52 (4): 311–323. doi:10.1080/00344893.2017.1301987. S2CID 157208657. This could be achieved by, for example, adopting a more conservative position than Alliance's centre-left liberalism...
  9. ^ "Sister Parties". Liberal Democrats. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  10. ^ "NI council elections 2023: Restore Stormont Executive now, Sinn Féin urges". BBC. 21 May 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  11. ^ "UK Parliament". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  12. ^ "UK Parliament". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 15 January 2021. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  13. ^ McClements, Freya; Graham, Seanín; Hutton, Brian; Moriarty, Gerry (7 May 2022). "Assembly election: Sinn Féin wins most seats as parties urged to form Executive". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  14. ^ "Liberal International: Full Members". Liberal International. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  15. ^ "ALDE Party – Member Parties". ALDE Party. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  16. ^ Driver, Stephen (2011). Understanding British Party Politics. Polity. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-7456-4077-8.


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