The
2016 Belfast Mayoral Election was held on 5 May 2016. Lucas Nye, on the ballot as an independent, became the first non-Unionist to be elected Mayor in twenty years and third Ecologist Mayor anywhere in the Commonwealth.
The run-up to the election was marked by high-profile factional infighting by the Ulster Unionist political machine, which had began with the election of former National Unionist leader Frances Clifford to the leadership of the UUP. This culminated in the nomination of the hardline Leslie Moss and the liberal faction of the party breaking away and forming a deal with the Irish Ecologists, who had nominated long-time Belfast Councillor and Ecologist leader at Stormont Lucas Nye. Nye made deals for the support of the Ulster Radicals and Centre Party, and his campaign quickly gained momentum as Unionist infighting and Moss' backwards views on women's rights, Catholics and a whole host of other issues took centre-stage. Compared to Nye, a charismatic figure with a following among young voters, Moss cut a frequently hostile and bitter figure.
Nye won by a landslide, buoyed by the second-preferences of Sinn Fein voters and perennial candidate Pete Durnell's disavowal of his former Unionist colleagues.
However, once in power, both the Radicals and Unionists quickly realised that they'd made a big mistake betting everything on Nye. In the mess of the election his unconventional views on many subjects had taken a back-seat, only to come to the fore after the election. He faced non-stop disputes with city councillors (starting with his failed attempt to renege on a deal to appoint Unionist and Radical figures to important cabinet posts), repeated strikes and general governmental dysfunction.
Nye's defenders (of which there are many) argue that the dysfunction of his time in office was down to the Unionist machine striking back for Nye's refusal to reign in an Ecologist agenda (cancelling the re-opening of Sydenham Airport a typical measure), and his attempts to open investigations into allegations of corruption during the Unionists' long rule of Belfast, investigations that could have potentially implicated the Ulster Unionist Party as a whole. Opponents argue that Nye was more interested in using the Mayoralty as a platform for activist campaigns, most famously attempting to conduct a citizen's arrest on Foreign Secretary Ben Griffin during a visit to Belfast for his role in the Malayan Intervention.
Ultimately, facing charges of misusing city funds, a bipartisan supermajority on the council used a rarely-used provision of the 1975 Local Government Act to remove Nye from office and he was replaced with Edith Moore, Chairman of Belfast City Council.
The
2019 Belfast Mayoral Election was held on 2 May 2019. Edith Moore had served as Mayor of Belfast for eleven months following the removal of Lucas Nye from office, and the official Unionist campaign cast her term and office and candidacy as a "return to normalcy" following two chaotic years of Nye. Moore's candidacy was also symbolic of the reconciliation and rejuvenation of the Ulster Unionists, who had returned to government in Stormont the previous year. Moore was seen as an acceptable candidate to all wings of the party, and had successfully reversed several key policies of Nye, including putting an end to Nye's attempts to use his Mayoral powers to investigate "conspiracy theories" both further afield and close to home.
The Radicals were badly disorganised following their support for (and eventual part in the defenestration of) Moore's predecessor, and Sinn Fein's Margaret Lynch was seen to a charisma vacuum and a proxy for pro-independence leaders in Dublin. Between that and the near-implosion of the Irish Ecologists over the issue of their Mayor, Moore easily cruised to victory, narrowly clearing the 45% threshold to avoid a second round.
The
2019 Ecologist Leadership Election was held in August 2019. The party's constitution mandates a leadership election every four years (to be put off for a maximum of six months pending "extraordinary circumstances" such as a snap election). While incumbent leaders seeking re-election rarely face significant challenges, incumbent leader and MP for Bristol West Emmett Butler faced a surprisingly strong challenge from former Belfast Mayor of Lucas Nye.
The race was filled with controversies, starting with whether or not Nye was eligible to stand (his embezzlement charges having been long-dropped) and charges of entryism and voting irregularities by both sides. Nye controversially stood for an ideological sea-change within the Ecologist movement, advocating for European Integration, harder stances on increasing emissions in the developing world and population controls; standing in contrast to what he described as Butler's "urban handwringer" agenda.
In spite of gaining a strong, loyal following, Butler ultimately won a narrow victory. Nye claimed the result was rigged, attempted to take the party to court, and ultimately left the party. Nye has recently announced plans to stand as an independent in the seat of Belfast South at the next General Election.