2015 Social Democratic and Labour Party leadership election

← 2011

12–15 November 2015


Candidate	Colum Eastwood	Alasdair McDonnell
1st pref.	172	133
Percentage	56.4%	43.6%

Leader before election

Alasdair McDonnell

Elected Leader

Colum Eastwood

A leadership election was held for the Social Democratic and Labour Party of Northern Ireland between 12 and 15 November 2015. The result was a victory for Colum Eastwood.

Background

Following poor election results in the 2014 local elections, the 2014 European Parliament election and the 2015 Westminster election, McDonnell resisted calls to stand down.^[1] Initially no challenger came forward, though early in June it was rumoured that eventual challenger Colum Eastwood would stand.^[2] It was not until late September that Eastwood confirmed that he would stand against McDonnell.^[3]

Candidates

Two SDLP members announced they would stand in the leadership election. These were:

Colum Eastwood - MLA for Foyle. At 32 years old, Eastwood is the youngest SDLP MLA.^[4] He counted among his supporters the former Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Seamus Mallon and former leader Mark Durkan.^[5]
Alasdair McDonnell - Leader of the SDLP and MP for Belfast South.

Results

Below is a table summarising the results of the leadership election. With just two candidates there was only one round of votes.

2015 Social Democratic and Labour Party leadership election^[6]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1
	Social Democratic and Labour	Colum Eastwood	56.4	Y 172
	Social Democratic and Labour	Alasdair McDonnell	43.6	N 133
Electorate: 315 Valid: 305 Spoilt: Quota: 154 Turnout:

References

^ Gerry Moriarty (14 May 2015). "SDLP leader resists calls to stand down". Irishtimes.com. Archived from the original on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
^ Clarke, Liam (16 June 2015). "SDLP deputy Dolores Kelly calls for leader Alasdair McDonnell to stand down". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 31 December 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
^ "The ITV Hub - The home of ITV". U.tv. Archived from the original on 29 May 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
^ "SDLP leadership contest result to be announced later". BBC News. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
^ Sheena Jackson (30 October 2015). "Mark Durkan MP joins Seamus Mallon in support of Eastwood as SDLP leader". Derry Journal. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
^ "SDLP leadership: Colum Eastwood wins contest against Alasdair McDonnell". BBC News. Archived from the original on 14 November 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2016.

Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)

Leadership
Leader	Gerry Fitt (1970–1979) John Hume (1979–2001) Mark Durkan (2001–2010) Margaret Ritchie (2010–2011) Alasdair McDonnell (2011–2015) Colum Eastwood (2015–present)
Deputy Leader	John Hume (1970–1979) Seamus Mallon (1979–2001) Bríd Rodgers (2001–2004) Alasdair McDonnell (2004–2010) Patsy McGlone (2010–2011) Dolores Kelly (2011–2015) Fearghal McKinney (2015–2016) Nichola Mallon (2017–2022)
Chair	Eddie McGrady (1971–1973) Denis Haughey (1973–1978) Bríd Rodgers (1978–1980) Sean Farren (1980–1984) Alban Maginness (1984–1990) Mark Durkan (1990–1995) Jonathan Stephenson (1995–1998) Jim Lennon (1998–2000) Alex Attwood (2000–2004) Patricia Lewsley (2004–2007) Eddie McGrady (2007–2009) Joe Byrne (2009–2012) John Dallat (2012–2013) John Clayton (2013–2015) Ronan McCay (2015–2017) Colin McGrath (2017–2023) Daniel McCrossan (2023–present)
General Secretary (until 2016) Party Manager (since 2016)	Paddy Wilson (1970–1972) John Duffy (1972–1975) Dan McAreavey (1975–1980) Don Canning (1980–1981) Bríd Rodgers (1981–1983) Eamon Hanna (1983–1986) Patsy McGlone (1986–1992) Gerry Cosgrove (1992–2016) Catherine Matthews (2016–present)

Elected representatives

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly	Mark H. Durkan Cara Hunter Daniel McCrossan Patsy McGlone Colin McGrath Sinead McLaughlin Matthew O'Toole
Members of the UK Parliament	Colum Eastwood Claire Hanna Historical list