Nationalist Party

The NP was the main Nationalist party in Northern Ireland during most of the years of Unionist government at Stormont. For most of the period the NP refused to act as official opposition to the Stormont government. The NP had its origins in the old Irish Parliamentary Party. Although the NP was trying to reform itself into a constituency based political party which addressed a wide range of social issues, it was overtaken by the events of the civil rights period. The NP lost most of its support to the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) which was formed in August 1970. The last election the NP was involved in was the 1973 Assembly Election but it won no seats. The last leader of the NP was Eddie McAteer. Reading: Lynn, Brendan. (1997) '1964-1969: Eclipse', in, Holding the Ground: The Nationalist Party in Northern Ireland, 1945-1972