Five parties hold one seat apiece in Northern Ireland's most diverse constituency, making the May 5 election a tightly fought contest.
The last Assembly election in 2017 turned out to be a real nail-biter with it being the last result to be declared on the night of the count. On the penultimate count, Emma Little Pengelly of the DUP was only 25.24 votes behind her running mate Christopher Stalford, and only 58.14 behind the UUP's Michael Henderson.
This year, both Alliance and the SDLP are each fielding two candidates in the outside hope of picking up an extra seat, making South Belfast one of the key constituencies to watch.
Read more: Full coverage of the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election
Current Lord Mayor of Belfast, Kate Nicholl, will be running for Alliance alongside Paula Bradshaw while Elsie Trainor and Matthew O'Toole will be flying the flag for the SDLP.
The Assembly election will be the first electoral test for Sinn Féin Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey since her co-option to the Assembly to replace Máirtín Ó Muilleoir in 2020.
When he resigned from party politics in 2020, Mr Ó Muilleoir said it was "time for me to hand over to a representative of a newer generation of republican activists."
DUP Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots is in the running this time after switching from Lagan Valley following the death of party colleague Christopher Stalford.
Mr Poots is expected to comfortably retain the seat for the DUP among its core vote. The party ran two candidates in the last Assembly election in 2017 and this time will be fielding just one.
But the Brexit-backing Agriculture Minister is moving from a constituency that voted Leave in the EU referendum to an area which had one of the highest Remain votes in Northern Ireland in 2016.
This is a constituency where in 2019's Westminster election, a landslide of voters coalesced behind the SDLP's Claire Hanna to oust DUP Brexiteer Emma Little-Pengelly.
Green Party leader Clare Bailey looks set to retain her seat. The UUP finished sixth in 2017 but has high hopes for its candidate Stephen McCarthy this time around.
Which candidates are standing in the South Belfast constituency?
- Clare Bailey (Green Party)
- Paula Bradshaw (Alliance)
- Andrew Girvin (TUV)
- Deirdre Hargey (Sinn Féin)
- Paddy Lynn (Workers Party)
- Luke McCann (Aontú)
- Stephen McCarthy (UUP)
- Neil Moore (Socialist Party)
- Elly Odhiambo (Independent)
- Matthew O'Toole (SDLP)
- Edwin Poots (DUP)
- Kate Nicholl (Alliance)
- Sipho Sibanda (People Before Profit)
- Elsie Trainor (SDLP)
Read more: Arlene Foster and Naomi Long in bitter online spat over Stormont reform
Read more: DUP's Jim Wells says if he will run in election as deadline looms
For the latest politics news straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.
