It is probably fair to say that of all Northern Ireland's constituencies this is the one with most resemblance to a UK seat.
It closely resembles an affluent shire seat somewhere in the south of England. It is very heavily Protestant: there is no Sinn Féin presence, and the SDLP was not able to hold onto its deposit at the last election.
The constituency covers all of the area covered by North Down Borough Council, as well as the town of Donaghadee. It is extremely middle-class, much of it is suburban, and many of those who commute into Belfast to work live here.
The main town is the seaside resort of Bangor, which has a population of about 48,000 and boasts the UK’s fourth largest yacht marina.
In a 1995 by-election the seat was won by Robert McCartney standing as leader of his own United Kingdom Unionist Party; he went on to win again in 1997, and topped the poll at the 1998 Assembly election.
The election here will be an interesting one to watch: Mr McCartney is staunchly anti-Agreement and his Ulster Unionist opponent Sylvia Hermon is pro-Agreement. She has been given a boost by the Alliance party which has withdrawn this time in favour of her.
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