Sian Mulholland MLA

Before the 2022 Assembly election, the Alliance Party had eight MLAs. We knew them all. Or at least we thought we did.

Then came the Alliance breakthrough, and suddenly there were seventeen.

Some of the newer MLAs aren’t exactly household names. Indeed, I suspect a few aren’t household names in their own households.

On Thursday night’s BBC The View, one of the less familiar Alliance faces, Sian Mulholland MLA, was discussing the current and referred to “my voters.”

An interesting choice of words.

You see, Sian Mulholland has had a rather unusual political career.

In 2015 she was co-opted onto Belfast City Council.

In 2019 she was elected to Belfast City Council

In 2022 she was co-opted onto Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council.

And in 2023, following the resignation of Patricia O’Lynn, she was co-opted into the Northern Ireland Assembly as MLA for North Antrim.

Three councils and constituencies. Three co-options. Three Co-Options And An Election. It is a Rom-Com.

Now, there’s absolutely nothing improper about co-option. It’s a perfectly legitimate part of our political system.

And, in fairness, Sian Mulholland did stand in North Antrim in the 2024 Westminster election, receiving 4,488 votes. She also won election to Belfast City Council in 2019.

But she has never been elected to the Assembly.

Still, after three co-options, maybe it’s time to try something different.

Getting elected.