This seat is the political home of Seamus Mallon, who is now the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland. It is a rural constituency of small farms and villages which takes in all of the area covered by Armagh District Council and part of Newry and Mourne District Council. The two main population centres are the towns of Newry and Armagh.
The latter has been the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland for 1,500 years. On opposite hills in the town stand the Protestant cathedral, where St Patrick built his first stone church, and the Catholic cathedral: both Protestant and Catholic archbishops are based here. It is also the centre for a growing tourist industry, and has an observatory, a planetarium, a heritage centre and the Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum.
Mallon won this seat from Ulster Unionist Jim Nicholson at a 1986 by-election, and he has consolidated his lead in elections since then. Despite there not being a DUP candidate to split the unionist vote at the last election, the UUP were still nearly 10% behind the SDLP.
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