Keith Buchanan (born 11 May 1973) is a

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

(DUP) politician who has been a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ; ) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 elected members – five from each of 18 constituencies, the boundaries o ...

(MLA) for Mid Ulster since

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. He serves as the party's

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

in the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

as well as its spokesperson for Cultural Development and Loyal Order and Groups Engagement.

Career

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly

Buchanan's first electoral contest was at the

2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016. It was the fifth election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. 1,281,595 individuals were registered to vote in the election (representing ...

, in which he was a

(DUP) candidate for the Mid Ulster constituency. He was the last candidate elected in the constituency, unseating the incumbent MLA, and Buchanan's running mate, Ian McCrea. Buchanan was re-elected at the March 2017 Assembly election, taking 9,568 first-preferences (19.3%). Notably, he became the only unionist candidate to be returned in Mid Ulster, following a reduction in the number of MLAs in each constituency, leading to the Ulster Unionists' Sandra Overend losing her seat. Buchanan contested Mid Ulster at the June 2017 general election, where he came a distant second to

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

’s

Francie Molloy Francis Joseph Molloy (; born 16 December 1950) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who was the abstentionist Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Ulster from 2013 to 2024. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Mid Ulster fr ...

, with 12,565 votes (26.9%). At the 2019 general election, Buchanan again finished second to Molloy, though his share of the vote dropped by 2.4%. In November 2021, Buchanan was called "disgraceful" by a fellow MLA for attempting to link the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

to dissident Irish republicans.

SDLP The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; ) is a social democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly ( MLAs) and two members of Parliament (MPs ...

MLA

Justin McNulty Justin McNulty MLA (born 15 November 1974) is an Irish politician, a Gaelic football manager, and a former player at senior level for the Armagh county team. He has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Newry and Armagh si ...

accused Buchanan of "stirring up the pot of sectarian tensions". At the 2022 Assembly election, he was the fourth candidate returned in Mid Ulster, and received 16.5% of first-preferences. Buchanan’s share of the vote declined further to 20.2% at the 2024 general election, though still finished as the runner-up in the constituency.

Personal life

He has been married to Sandra Buchanan since 1998 and they have one daughter, Loren (born 2003). He is also an active member of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

References

1973 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Democratic Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 {{Northern-Ireland-MLA-stub