DUP leader Ian Paisley, at age 78, will fight the European election next year – making this the sixth Euro campaign he has contested since first being elected to the parliament in 1979.
According to DUP sources yesterday Mr Paisley is likely to be the candidate, although the official selection process inside the party is still to be held probably in the autumn.
Mr Paisley has topped the Euro election in Northern Ireland during the past five elections. At the 1999 election Mr Paisley on 192,762 votes (28.4%) was just ahead of the SDLP's John Hume on 190,731 votes (28.1%). They were both elected on the first count.
Given the internal wrangles inside Ulster unionism, Democratic Unionists believe that Mr Paisley will again top the poll.
SDLP headquarters yesterday confirmed that Mr Hume has indicated he will be standing in next year's European election.
Ulster Unionist Party sources also confirmed last night that Jim Nicholson would be putting his name forward again to be a candidate and the selection process would be held in the next few months.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Sinn Féin's Mitchel McLaughlin, who polled well in the last European election with 117,643 first preference votes (17.3%), is not putting his name forward for selection as a candidate for next year's electoral battle.
