Social Democratic and Labor Party

Social Democratic and Labor Party
Party leader	Colum Eastwood
vice-chairman	Nichola Mallon
Honorary Chairman	John Hume
founding	1970
Headquarters	121 Ormeau Road Belfast , BT7 1SH
Youth organization	SDLP Youth
Alignment	Social Democracy , Irish Nationalism
Colours)	Green  red yellow
British House of Commons	2/650
Northern Ireland Assembly	12/90
Local government in Northern Ireland	63/462
International connections	Socialist International
European party	Party of European Socialists (PES)
Website	www.sdlp.ie

The Social Democratic and Labor Party ( SDLP , Irish Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre ) is a 1970 u. a. Party of the Republican side in Northern Ireland founded by Ivan Cooper and the later Nobel Peace Prize laureate John Hume .

She is committed to the unification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland by peaceful means. Programmatically, there are strong similarities (except for the question of Irish reunification) to the British Labor Party .

history

From the 1990s to 2017, the SDLP's share of votes and mandates decreased continuously. In the European elections in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019, the party was unable to win any of the three seats that Northern Ireland is entitled to in the European Parliament.

In November 2003, in the election for the Northern Ireland Assembly , she had to hand over the leadership role in the Republican camp to the IRA- affiliated party Sinn Féin . In 2011 the SDLP held 14 out of 108 seats in the Northern Irish Assembly, down from 12 in the next election in 2016 .

In the election for the British House of Commons on May 5, 2005, she was able to keep her three seats. Although she lost her seat in the constituency of Newry and Armagh to Sinn Féin , she was able to win the constituency of Belfast- South from the Ulster Unionist Party , her Protestant partner in the peace process. In the election to the House of Commons on May 6, 2010, the SDLP won three of the 18 Northern Irish seats. Before the general election on May 7, 2015, the SDLP rejected constituency agreements , such as those made by the unionist parties UUP and DUP , with Sinn Féin. Such electoral alliances are reminiscent of the past, said SDLP MP for the Belfast-West constituency, Alex Attwood, in a statement on February 21, 2015. The choice must be made not between nationalism and unionism, but between the nature and content of politics. Election observers attributed this negative attitude by the SDLP to negative experiences in the past. The SDLP feared that electoral alliances with the more radical Sinn Féin would permanently lose the constituencies concerned and the electorate to them.

In the 2015 general election , the SDLP again won three constituency mandates.

After the election for the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016, in which the SDLP won 12 of 108 seats, the party decided not to fill the government offices it was entitled to on the principle of proportional representation, but to remain in the opposition.

In the 2017 general election , all three members of the SDLP lost their seats in the lower house.

In February 2019, the SDLP entered into a partnership with Fianna Fáil . In the 2019 general election , the SDLP won two seats: the constituencies of Foyle and Belfast South.

Party leader

• 1973–1979 Gerry Fitt
• 1979-2001 John Hume
• 2001-2010 Mark Durkan
• 2010–2011 Margaret Ritchie
• 2011–2015 Alasdair McDonnell
• 2015– Colum Eastwood0000

Election results

The election results in the following table refer to Northern Ireland (also for the all-British elections). General elections were carried out consistently by majority voting , elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998 and elections to the European Parliament by preferential suffrage .

year	choice	Share of votes	Seats
1973	Northern Ireland Assembly 1973	22.1%	19/78
1974	General election Feb. 1974	22.4%	1/12
1974	General election October 1974	22.4%	1/12
1979	General election 1979	18.2%	1/12
1979	European elections 1979	25.5%	1/3
1982	Northern Ireland Assembly 1982	18.8%	14/78
1983	General election 1983	17.9%	1/17
1984	European elections in 1984	22.1%	1/3
1987	General election 1987	21.1%	3/17
1989	European elections 1989	25.5%	1/3
1992	General election 1992	23.5%	4/17
1994	European elections in 1994	28.9%	1/3
1997	General election 1997	24.1%	3/18
1998	Northern Ireland Assembly 1998	22.0%	24/108
1999	European elections 1999	28.1%	1/3
2001	General election 2001	21.0%	3/18
2003	Northern Ireland Assembly 2003	17.0%	18/108
2004	2004 European elections	15.9%	0/3
2005	General election 2005	17.5%	3/18
2007	Northern Ireland Assembly 2007	15.2%	16/108
2009	European elections 2009	16.2%	0/3
2010	General election 2010	16.5%	3/18
2011	Northern Ireland Assembly 2011	14.2%	14/108
2014	European elections 2014	13.0%	0/3
2015	General election 2015	13.9%	3/18
2016	Northern Ireland Assembly 2016	12.0%	12/108
2017	Northern Ireland Assembly 2017	11.9%	12/90
2017	General election 2017	11.7%	0/18
2019	European elections 2019	13.7%	0/3
2019	General election 2019	14.9%	2/18

Web links

Commons : Social Democratic and Labor Party  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• SDLP - Official Website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Arlene Foster says DUP and UUP in election pact talks. BBC News, February 21, 2015, accessed May 8, 2015 . 
2. ^ Election 2015: DUP and UUP agree pact in four constituencies. BBC News, March 18, 2015, accessed May 9, 2015 . 
3. ^ NI Assembly: SDLP to go into opposition. BBC News, May 19, 2016, accessed February 19, 2017 . 
4. ↑ SDLP members back Fianna Fáil partnership. In: bbc.com. February 9, 2019, accessed March 16, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Who Won What When and Where? ark.ac.uk (Nicholas Whyte), January 1, 2015, accessed March 8, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Martin Melaugh, Fionnuala McKenna: CAIN Web Service: Results of Elections Held in Northern Ireland Since 1968. cain.ulst.ac.uk, February 9, 2014, accessed on March 8, 2015 . 
7. ↑ European election 2009. BBC News, June 14, 2004, accessed March 8, 2015 . 
8. ↑ European election 2009. BBC News, June 8, 2009, accessed March 8, 2015 . 
9. ↑ European election 2009. BBC News, May 27, 2014, accessed March 8, 2015 .