Alliance is the latest party to officially announce their Fermanagh and South Tyrone candidate in the next Assembly election.

Matthew Beaumont was ratified at an Alliance selection convention on Tuesday night.

Well known face

Mr. Beaumont has become a well-known face in the constituency since first running in the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council elections in May 2019.

He then ran in the General Election later that year and despite not gaining the votes to become an MP, as part of an Alliance Party surge in Northern Ireland he increased the party’s share of the vote in Fermanagh and South Tyrone by 3.6 per cent.

Looking ahead to the next elections which are marked for May 2022, Mr. Beaumont is hopeful that the people of the constituency will get out and vote for change.

“People want change,” he said. “People want elected officials they can believe in, people want to be represented by people they have voted for.

“We all have a choice in just under 200 days, do we go for what we have always had, or do we choose representatives that we believe will stand up and fight for us and our loved ones.

“If enough of us go and vote for this change, change will happen, but only if enough of us go and vote.”

Optimism

There is optimism that the previous results and improvements in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, which usually sees the seats split between Nationalists and Unionists, could see an Alliance MLA returned.

Transparency

When asked if there is confidence the Alliance vote can grow even more Mr. Beaumont replied: “Everyone starts on zero votes. If enough people believe that I will fight for them if or when they need their MLA to do so, then yes.

“The messages we receive daily and what we are told about the visibility, transparency and approachability of some MLAs and councillors makes us believe that we could do a very good job if voted in to do so by the electorate.”

“My door is always open, you can find me on social media and via email on matthew.beaumont@alliancepartyni.org.”

So far, Mr. Beaumont will be up against current Sinn Féin MLAs Jemma Dolan, Colm Gildernew and Aine Murphy, SDLP Councillor Adam Gannon and the DUP’s Deborah Erskine, who recently replaced Arlene Foster.

The Ulster Unionist Party, who have one seat in the constituency, held by Rosemary Barton are expected to announce their candidate in the coming weeks.