Remain reaffirmed: the 2019 European election in Northern Ireland

Haughey, Sean ORCID: 0000-0001-7378-086X and Pow, James (2020) Remain reaffirmed: the 2019 European election in Northern Ireland IRISH POLITICAL STUDIES, 35 (1). pp. 29-45. ISSN 0790-7184, 1743-9078

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Abstract

With echoes of the dividing lines of the United Kingdom’s 2016 referendum, a majority of voters in Northern Ireland supported pro-Remain candidates in the 2019 European Parliament election. However, whereas the results in many parts of the UK reflected a highly polarised electorate, voters in Northern Ireland appeared more receptive to compromise: a majority of their newly elected MEPs expressed support for the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by the UK government with the EU – the only constituency in the UK where this was the case. The comfortable re-election of Diane Dodds and Martina Anderson affirmed the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin as the dominant unionist and nationalist parties respectively. However, a surge in support for the Alliance Party, which saw Naomi Long win a seat at the expense of the Ulster Unionist Party, marked a notable shift towards the ethno-national centre-ground: one in five first preference votes went to a candidate aligned with neither nationalism nor unionism. This report contextualises the election campaign and considers the implications of the results.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Europe, European elections, political parties, Northern Ireland, Brexit, Withdrawal Agreement
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2019 15:51
Last Modified:	16 Jun 2026 11:51
DOI:	10.1080/07907184.2019.1652166
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3060119
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