DUP tide ebbed. In January 2005 Smyth announced that he would be retiring at the 2005 general election, raising speculation both as to whom the Ulster Unionists would field in succession to him and what effect a different candidate would have upon their share of the vote. The UUP selected Assembly member Michael McGimpsey, albeit with a highly controversial and bitter selection. McGimpsey was repudiated by many prominent Unionists, including both Smyth and former UUP leader James Molyneaux. The DUP selected Jimmy Spratt and offered an electoral pact to the UUP that would give each party a free run at one out of South Belfast and Fermanagh and South Tyrone. This offer was rejected by the UUP. In the event, the DUP and UUP both fielded candidates which split the vote. The nationalist vote mainly went for the SDLP over Sinn Féin, with the result that the SDLP took the seat despite a majority of votes cast for unionist candidates. In 2010, Sinn Féin opted not to stand against the SDLP to avoid splitting the nationalist vote. The SDLP won the seat with a majority of 6,000. This was the seat in which the Alliance Party had their second-best showing, polling 15% of the votes. Alasdair McDonnell retained the seat in May 2015, with only 24.5% of the vote, as Sinn Féin opted to stand. This is the smallest proportion of the vote a winning candidate has ever achieved in a UK general election. In 2017 the seat was won by Emma Little-Pengelly of the DUP with Alasdair McDonnell losing his seat along with all other SDLP MPs in Northern Ireland. This was won back for the SDLP by Claire Hanna in 2019, with Sinn Féin again opting not to stand. This was the first time since 1987 that the winning candidate in the constituency had a majority of the vote. Members of Parliament The Member of Parliament since the 2019 general election is Claire Hanna of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, succeeding Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party. Election results Elections in the 2010s This seat saw the largest SDLP vote share and the largest increase in vote share for the party at the 2019 general election. This came as Sinn Féin did not contest the seat. It also saw the only fall in vote share for Alliance. Elections in the 2000s Elections in the 1990s 1997