A junior minister in the North's Executive has been chosen to contest the South Down seat at the next British general election.
Mr Dermot Nesbitt was selected by South Down Ulster Unionists to try to unseat the SDLP MP for the area Mr Eddie McGrady.
It is the second time Mr Nesbitt has fought or the seat in a Westminster election.
In 1997 he came second in the Westminster poll. He attracted 16,248 votes as the sole Unionist candidate. Mr McGrady topped the poll with 26,181 votes - giving him a majority of 9,933.
Mr Nesbitt is an Assembly member for the area and serves as a Junior Minister in the Office of the First and Deputy First Ministers at Stormont.
He is a former member of the Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue and was a key adviser to Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble in the talks leading to the signing of the Belfast Agreement.
But the candidate said he was "delighted to have been chosen to fight South Down."
But Mr Nesbitt is likely to face another unionist candidate in the contest, the DUP's Assembly member Mr Jim Wells.
Sinn Féin has also said it will field Mr Aiden Carlin as its candidate.
PA