SIR Jeffrey Donaldson and Edwin Poots have been confirmed as the candidates to stand in the DUP leadership contest.
Gregory Campbell, Paula Bradley and Paul Frew are the candidates for deputy leader, party chairman Lord Morrow said in a statement.
A leadership contest will take place next week to replace current leader Arlene Foster and deputy leader Nigel Dodds.
It will be the first leadership contest in the DUP’s 50-year history.
Donaldson, the party’s leader in Westminster, is standing against the favourite, Edwin Poots, the Minister for Agriculture and MLA for Lagan Valley.
In the deputy leadership contest, Campbell, MP for East Londonderry, is the most high-profile candidate.
READ MORE: How big an issue is Brexit in first Holyrood vote since Leave result?
He is standing against Frew, MLA for North Antrim, and the contest’s only female candidate Bradley, MLA for Belfast North.
It looks set to be a low-profile campaign, with candidates told by party officers that they are not allowed to campaign in public, with the contest regarded as n internal party matter. The vote, by way of secret ballot, will take place next Friday, May 14.
The electorate is made up of the DUP’s 36 MPs and MLAs.
Poots has vowed to establish a Unionist convention to maximise support for the pro-Union position.
READ MORE: Who is Edwin Poots, the frontrunner to be DUP leader, and what does he believe?
He said he would lead a campaign against Brexit’s “undemocratic” Northern Ireland Protocol, to “systematically undermine and strip away all aspects of it”.
Announcing his bid on Monday, Donaldson vowed to promote a positive strategy and values if elected, with a focus on building a shared future for everyone in Northern Ireland.
He also pledged meaningful reform within the DUP.
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