A former member of the Ulster Unionist Party has been chosen to represent the Social Democratic and Labour Party in the upcoming Stormont assembly election scheduled for next May.
Linzi McLaren, who resigned from her position as a UUP councillor in October 2025, will seek re-election in the South Antrim constituency.
Before entering local government, she served as a police constable and has since left that service to focus on her political campaign.
Her party hopes her background with unionist politicians will make her more acceptable to voters across the predominantly unionist area.
Roisin Lynch, currently an SDLP candidate in the region, received approximately one-third of the first preference votes cast for Declan Kearney during the 2022 general election.
Kearney secured over 9,000 first preference votes to win the South Antrim seat in that contest.
McLaren's transition from the Ulster Unionists to Sinn Féin marks a notable shift in local political representation.
The assembly election is set to take place next May.