The June 2021 Democratic Unionist Party leadership election was triggered by

Edwin Poots Edwin Poots (born 27 April 1965) is a British politician in Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from May to June 2021. He was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in 1998, and was ...

' resignation from the leadership of the party on 17 June 2021. Poots released a statement on 17 June 2021 announcing his intention to resign as party leader and that he had requested a new leadership contest, and that he would remain in post until a successor was appointed. Party chair

Maurice Morrow Maurice George Morrow, Baron Morrow (born 27 September 1948) is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who has been Chairman of the DUP since 2000. He was made a life peer in June 2006. He ...

later announced that the leadership election would take place on 26 June 2021. After nominations closed on 22 June,

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a People of Northern Ireland, Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom) ...

was declared the new leader of the Democratic Unionist Party after becoming the sole candidate, and therefore no ballot was held. On 30 June, the party's executive body ratified Donaldson as leader.

Background

After agreeing to a deal that resolved the stalemate over the

Irish Language Act The Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom providing "official recognition of the status of the Irish language" in Northern Ireland, with Ulster Scots being an officially recognised mi ...

, Poots stood down as leader on 17 June after a meeting where a majority of DUP MLAs and MPs voted against the party nominating

Paul Givan Paul Jonathan Givan (born 12 October 1981) is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland representing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Givan served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from June 2021 to February 2022, the youngest person ...

to be

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

. On 18 June 2021, a senior DUP source told ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' that

was expected to be the only candidate, as there was "no appetite for another potentially damaging leadership election."

Candidates

Declared

Results

The election was scheduled to be held on 26 June 2021, however after nominations closed on 22 June at 12:00 BST, party chair

revealed that

Jeffrey Donaldson Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and lead ...

was the only candidate nominated. Following a meeting of the party's MPs and MLAs to confirm the result (with the backing of 32 out of 36 votes), the appointment of Donaldson as leader was ratified by the party executive on 26 June.

References

{{Democratic Unionist Party Democratic Unionist Party leadership elections Democratic Unionist Party leadership Democratic Unionist Party leadership election 2021 elections in Northern Ireland