Mark Durkan (38), is eager for a new political challenge. In 1995, it was speculated that Mr John Hume would step down from his position as MP at Westminster in favour of Mr Durkan.
He got his break into party politics in 1984, as the SDLP leader's Westminster personal assistant, after being approached when he was deputy president of the Union of Students in Ireland from 1982-84.
It was at Queen's University, Belfast, that Mr Durkan got his first taste of political life as a graduate in politics, and then as deputy president of Queen's student union from 1981-82.
He has been the party's chairman from 1990-95, and an SDLP councillor in Derry City Council since 1983.