Ulster Unionist Party

The Ulster Unionist Party ( German Unionist Party Ulster, UUP ) is a unionist and Protestant party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1905 as a " Unionist Party " and represented the unity of Ireland with Great Britain. For a long time it was the main Protestant party in the country, but this position lost led by Ian Paisley 's Democratic Unionist Party. Chairman of the party since 2012 Mike Nesbitt.

In the period of self-government of Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1972 she had favored by a majority vote, always the absolute majority in the Northern Ireland Parliament and presented the Prime Minister. In the first election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, which was set up after the Good Friday Agreement, it became the largest party and its party leader David Trimble became First Minister. As of 2002, the UUP to the DUP had to give the role of the largest Protestant party in Northern Ireland.

In the general election on 5 May 2005, the UUP lost five of their six seats ( four to the radical DUP, one of the Republican- Socialist SDLP ). The UUP was then still only represented by the MP Sylvia Hermon from the constituency of North Down in Parliament. In the general election on 6 May 2010, the UUP won no more mandate.

In the European Parliament the UUP is represented by a deputy. She is a member of the Europe 2009 Party Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists ( AECR ) and the associated European Parliament European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) since the European elections. Previously, it belonged to the European Democrats, a subset of the EPP- ED Group, at.

The former party leader Sir Reg Empey was appointed in November 2010 in the House of Lords.