West Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)
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| West Tyrone in Northern Ireland |
West Tyrone is a British Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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Boundaries
The seat was created in a boundary review conducted in 1995 and was predominantly made out of the western half of the old Mid Ulster constituency - indeed it contains more of the old Mid Ulster than the current seat of that name. It also contains parts of the old Foyle constituency and now shares exactly the same boundaries as the districts of Omagh and Strabane
At the time of writing the Boundary Commission has proposed alterations to the Northern Ireland constituencies, however no changes are proposed for West Tyrone.
Westminster elections
Member of Parliament
The Member of Parliament since the 2001 general election is Pat Doherty of Sinn Fein. Between 1997 and 2001 the MP was William Thompson of the Ulster Unionist Party.
Election results
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Assembly and Forum elections
The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the 2003 election are:
- Thomas Buchanan - Democratic Unionist Party
- Kieran Deeney - Independent
- Pat Doherty - Sinn Fein
- Derek Hussey - Ulster Unionist Party
- Barry McElduff - Sinn Fein
- Eugene McMenamin - Social Democratic and Labour Party
In the 1998 election the six MLAs elected were:
- Joe Byrne- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Pat Doherty - Sinn Fein
- Oliver Gibson - Democratic Unionist Party
- Derek Hussey - Ulster Unionist Party
- Barry McElduff - Sinn Fein
- Eugene McMenamin - Social Democratic and Labour Party
In the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from West Tyrone. They were as follows:
- Joe Byrne- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Oliver Gibson - Democratic Unionist Party
- Derek Hussey - Ulster Unionist Party
- Barry McElduff - Sinn Fein
- Paddy McGovern- Social Democratic and Labour Party
Politics and History of the constituency
For the history of the equivalent seat prior to 1997, see Mid Ulster (constituency).
The seat is overwhelmingly pro nationalist, as evidenced by the election results in which nationalist parties have always won over 50% of the vote since the seat was created. However the nationalist vote has traditionally been split between the SDLP and Sinn Fein, whilst the Unionist parties have been more willing to make pacts to increase their chances of victory.
When the seat was created it was nominally held by the DUP, based on mapping the 1992 general election results onto the new boundaries, but this was because the UUP had not contested the equivalent area. In the 1996 Forum elections the UUP outpolled the DUP and it was agreed that the DUP would not contest the seat. As a result William Thompson of the UUP won in 1997 with a narrow majority over the SDLP, with Sinn Fein coming third on a large vote.
In the 2001 general election the SDLP and Sinn Fein both targeted the constituency heavily, in the hope that a shift in the vote from one nationalist party to the other would enable them to outpoll the Ulster Unionists. In the event Sinn Fein won.
In 1998 both Sinn Fein and the SDLP won two seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly, with the UUP and DUP winning one each. However there was much speculation that an increase in Sinn Fein's vote at the SDLP's expense would result in Sinn Fein taking a seat from its nationalist rival at the next assembly election. However the election was complicated by the intervention of the independent candidate Dr. Kieran Deeney, campaigning on the sole issue of the retention of the hospital in Omagh. In a result that shocked commentators he took one of the SDLP's assembly seats.
Deeney stood again in the 2005 general election and asked most parties to withdraw to support him. Many local activists and voters appeared to agree with this, with some making their support public, but in the end the UUP, DUP and SDLP all fielded candidates. Doherty held the seat for Sinn Fein, but with Deeney polling strongly in second place.