One to watch: Will Alliance emerge as largest party in former DUP stronghold?

Profile: The giant cranes of Harland and Wolff shipyard dominate the skyscape of this constituency and it is also home to the Stormont Assembly building.

The shipyard's position as a manufacturing giant has long since gone, and the political landscape is also changing.

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long topped the poll for first preferences last time round in an area considered a stronghold for the DUP.

The Stormont justice minister is a former Westminster MP for the constituency and narrowly missed out in the last British General Election in 2019 so will be looking to build on her personal vote.

She has a different running mate this time, as the party's other incumbent MLA Chris Lyttle has decided to step down. The decision was a surprise as he represented the area for 12 years and was highly regarded.

Alliance will hope to win the overall first preference battle.

The DUP also has a new name in the frame as a running mate for incumbent MLA Joanne Bunting, as 76-year-old Robin Newton was not selected to run again.

The Ulster Unionist candidate is incumbent MLA Andy Allen, a British army military veteran. The party is also running a second candidate, which it didn't do in 2017, and some within its ranks are concerned about the potential impact of splitting the vote.

John Ross of the TUV will hope to make inroads into both unionist parties in an area where anti-protocol loyalist community representatives have been very vocal in recent months.

A constituency where nationalist candidates enter the fray knowing they have no possibility of success with Sinn Féin and the SDLP together winning less than 3% of first preferences last time around. Many nationalist voters are therefore expected to back Alliance.

2017 Assembly election result: 2 Alliance, 2 DUP, 1 UUP

First preference vote share 2017:
DUP 37.6%
Alliance 31.4%
UUP 13.1%
SF 2.5%
SDLP 0.4%

Seats available: 5

Number of candidates: 13

Candidates

Andy Allen, UUP

Karl Bennett, PUP

David Brooks, DUP

Joanne Bunting, DUP

Charlotte Carson, SDLP

Hannah Kenny, People Before Profit Alliance

Lauren Kerr, UUP

Naomi Long, Alliance Party

Eoin MacNeill, Workers party

Peter McReynolds, Alliance Party

Mairead O'Donnell, Sinn Féin

John Ross, TUV

Brian Smyth, Green Party (NI)