sole candidates. Maguire was challenged by Austin Currie, a local SDLP activist (and later official candidate) who disagreed with the party's decision to give Maguire a clear run, while the new Ulster Unionist candidate, Raymond Ferguson, was challenged by Ernest Baird, leader of the United Ulster Unionist Party, who sought to cement his new party's electoral position. Additionally the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland ran Peter Acheson. The results were: Maguire 22,398 (36.0%), Ferguson 17,411 (28.0%), Currie 10,785 (17.3%), Baird 10,607 (17.0%) and Acheson 1,070 (1.7%). Candidates in the 1981 by-election Maguire's death led to a by-election in early 1981, when the 1981 Irish hunger strike was underway. The by-election was seized on by supporters of the hunger strike as a way to register a protest and the leader of the hunger strikers, Bobby Sands, was nominated on the label "Anti-H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner". Owen Carron served as his agent and Danny Morrison organised the campaign. The Ulster Unionist Party nominated Harry West, who had by now stood down as leader. The Social Democratic and Labour Party had already selected Austin Currie as prospective candidate for the seat before a by-election was in prospect. When Sands' candidacy was announced the party came under pressure to withdraw in his favour, as putative candidates Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey and Noel Maguire had done, although initially it was said that the mainstream of the party was resistant. On the last day for nominations the party executive decided not to stand, explaining that they wished to concentrate on local government elections which would take place in May; there was speculation that the executive did not share the local party's confidence and feared a poor result. The SDLP decision not to stand in the by-election caused a great deal of dissent within the party. No other candidates contested the seat, making it one of the last occasions when a Westminster constituency by-election had only two candidates. Currie railed against the SDLP's decision not to stand, but the result was a highly polarised contest between unionism and Irish republicanism. Results There were 3,280 spoilt ballot papers. Consequences Sands died only twenty-six days later, precipitating a second by-election. New legislation was passed by Parliament to bar "convicted felons" from standing for election; as a result another hunger striker could not be nominated, so Owen Carron stood as "Anti-H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner". The following year saw Sinn Féin begin to contest