Ulster Democratic Party
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Ulster Democratic Party
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| Founded | June 1981 |
| Dissolved | November 2001 |
| Preceded by | New Ulster Political Research Group |
| Succeeded by | Ulster Political Research Group |
| Ideology |
Ulster nationalism Devolution |
The Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) was a small loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), to replace the New Ulster Political Research Group. The UDP name had previously been used in the 1930s by an unrelated party, which on one occasion contested Belfast Central.
The party's roots were firmly in the Protestant community of Northern Ireland, but its initial political stance was not the traditional unionist one favoured by that section of society. Instead, it supported independence for Northern Ireland within the European Economic Community and the Commonwealth. These policies had been set out by its predecessors in the New Ulster Political Research Group, in their Beyond the Religious Divide policy document. However, this position did not capture the electorate's imagination, and the UDP switched to supporting the UDA's Common Sense position, which suggested an assembly and executive for the region, elected by proportional representation. It also supported a written Bill of Rights and Constitution.
In the early years the party's electoral support was limited. Its first foray into electoral politics was deeply disappointing, with the party leader John McMichael polling only 576 votes (1.3%) in the 1982 Belfast South by-election. The party's two candidates in the 1982 Assembly election in Belfast North similarly failed to make an impact. It was not until the 1989 local elections that the party made its electoral breakthrough, when Ken Kerr won a seat on Derry City Council, in the Waterside area. Around that time, the UDP dropped the "Loyalist" part of its name. Although Kerr lost his council seat in 1993, Gary McMichael—son of the late John McMichael, who had been assassinated in 1987—won a seat on Lisburn City Council for the party. It increased its number of council seats to four in 1997.
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