http://www.dup.org.uk/

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Its leader is the Rt Hon Peter Robinson MP MLA and the deputy leader is Mr Nigel Dodds OBE MP MLA, it is the largest party in Northern Ireland and the fourth-largest party in the British House of Commons.

The party was established in 1971 by Ian Paisley and Desmond Boal and other members of the Protestant Unionist Party. It has won seats at local council, province, national and European level. It won eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly of 1973-1974, where it opposed the formation of a power-sharing executive made up of unionists and nationalists following the Sunningdale Agreement.

The DUP's objectives are:

- to secure, uphold and maintain Northern Ireland as an integral part of the United Kingdom.

- to impose and maintain the rule of law in Northern Ireland so that all citizens are not only equal under the law but equally subject to it.

- to devise and urge a policy of social betterment and equal opportunity for all sections of the community in the economic, educational and social welfare spheres.