Michael Bower

The 2010 election results have made history for the Alliance Party with our vote share across Northern Ireland rising by over 60% since 2005.  Alliance Youth are proud to have played a critical role in this success, not just on the doorsteps but also on the ballot paper, demonstrating Alliance’s commitment to giving young people a central role in shaping their future.

Alliance Youth member, and former chair, Michael Bower demonstrated that West Tyrone has a growing appetite for non-tribal politics after securing the best ever Alliance Westminster results in the constituency. This success paves the way for future successes in coming Assembly and Council elections.  This is also a remarkable achievement considering Alliance has not fielded a Westminster candidate in the constituency since 1997.

Jonathan Simpson

Meanwhile, Alliance Youth is delighted with the success of Secretary Jonny Simpson who more than doubled our vote in Castlereagh having secured an astounding 26% of first preference votes in the by-election.  Delighted with the results Jonny thanked his supporters explaining

This was a brilliant day for Alliance – we showed that Alliance is a credible and positive alternative in Castlereagh

If you want to get involved in playing a part in building a shared future in Northern Ireland we would love to hear from you!

youth@allianceparty.org

The Alliance Party has selected Jonathan Simpson as their candidate in the forth-coming by-election the Castlereagh East constituency. The seat was vacated by the resignation of Iris Robinson from Castlereagh Borough Council.
Jonathan Simpson (23) currently works as a political assistant to Alliance Party Leader, David Ford MLA. He previously worked as a constituency assistant for Naomi Long MLA in the East Belfast Alliance Constituency Office and is also currently Secretary of Alliance Youth. A resident of Castlereagh, he attended Grosvenor before studying law at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Jonathan Simpson said:

“I am extremely pleased to have been selected for Alliance to run in the forthcoming by-election in Castlereagh East.

“It is important that the public have the opportunity to have their say on recent events. People are understandably very disillusioned with politics at moment and I believe that every elected representative has a duty to do all they can to restore public faith in politics.

“People want to see delivery on key issues that affect their everyday lives like planning, provision of leisure facilities, creating a safer community and protecting the environment, instead of stale sectarian politics.

“This election is a real opportunity to shift the balance of power in Castlereagh and I hope that the people in Castlereagh East will help us deliver that change by electing me on May 6th.”

“In Castlereagh, only Alliance has consistently stood up for fairness, openness, transparency and accountability and if the people of Castlereagh give me their support, I will be joining a strong Alliance team focussed on delivering on local issues and guided by those values.

Follow Jonathan on Twitter and Facebook or read his blog here.