Seán Neeson (born 9 February 1946) is a politician in Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2001, and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Antrim from 1998 to 2011. Education and early life Neeson was educated at St. Malachy's College and then the Queen's University of Belfast before working as a teacher for many years. In the 1970s he joined the Alliance and in 1977 he was first elected to Carrickfergus council and has remained a member ever since, serving as Mayor in 1993–94. Political career In 1982 Neeson was elected to the Prior Assembly for Northern Ireland for the constituency of North Antrim. The following year he first contested the new constituency of East Antrim in the 1983 general election and subsequently fought it in the 1986 by-election called on the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the 1987 general election, the 1992 general election and the 1997 general election. He was also elected from the constituency to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum in 1996 and the Northern Ireland Assembly in both the 1998 and 2003 elections. On several occasions Neeson has been at the head of the single highest vote for Alliance in a province wide election. During this period Neeson emerged as one of the leading Alliance spokespersons, often participating in their delegation to successive talks about the future of the province. In 1998 Neeson stood for the leadership of Alliance upon the resignation of John Alderdice. Neeson's election represented a notable geographic shift as his three predecessors (Alderdice, John Cushnahan and Oliver Napier) had all had political bases in the strip incorporating the East Belfast and North Down constituencies, whereas Neeson's political base was in County Antrim, to the north of Belfast. This was continued by Neeson's successor, David Ford, whose political base is in South Antrim. Neeson's leadership came at a time of crisis for the Alliance. The negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement and its subsequent strong endorsement by a referendum had given Alliance much to hope for, as the party whose longstanding position on the province's future most closely matched that negotiated. However the first Assembly elections had seen Alliance win a mere 6.5% of the vote and just six Assembly seats. The decision by the party's leader, John Alderdice, to resign and take up the position of the Assembly's Speaker deprived Alliance