THE battle for East Belfast is the third instalment in a trilogy of contests between the DUP's Gavin Robinson and the Alliance Party's Naomi Long.
They first locked horns in 2015 when Mr Robinson reclaimed for the DUP the seat which Mrs Long dramatically won in 2010 by defeating then First Minister Peter Robinson.
Gavin Robinson, who is no relation of the ex-DUP leader, held the seat in 2017 when the political rivals went head-to-head once more.
Could 2019 be the Alliance leader's year, or will Mr Robinson make it three wins in a row?
This time the field of candidates is significantly reduced, with just three in the race compared to eight in 2017.
Sinn Féin, the SDLP and Green Party all opted out of contesting the constituency to boost pro-Remain candidate Mrs Long's chances of ousting the Brexit-backing DUP.
It's not a move Alliance requested or reciprocated. Unlike other pro-Remain parties, it is running candidates in all of the north's 18 constituencies.
Regardless of the number of candidates, voters will be well aware that this seat remains a two-horse race.
Alliance's chances in this election are boosted by the surge in support the party received in May's council poll. In Belfast the party notched up two additional seats including an extra councillor in east Belfast's Ormiston area.
Showing her appeal across the north, Mrs Long also managed to win a seat off the Ulster Unionists in the European Parliament elections.
However, the Alliance leader faces an uphill battle to take East Belfast from Mr Robinson.
The DUP incumbent received more than half of the vote share last time at 55.8 per cent with 23,917 – more than 8,000 ahead of Mrs Long on 15,443 (36 per cent).
He also upped his vote in 2017 by 6.4 per cent, even without the help of a unionist pact he had in 2015 when rival unionist parties stood aside to give him a solo run.
The 1,622 combined votes of Sinn Féin, SDLP and the Greens in 2017 would have been nowhere near enough for Mrs Long to catch the DUP.
East Belfast being marginally a Leave constituency by 51.4 per cent in the 2016 EU referendum would appear to favour Mr Robinson.
He also benefits from probably being the most inoffensive of the party's MPs without being entirely invisible. He has learned from the fallout over his memorably graceless victory speech in 2015 in which he declared that the "last five long years are over".
Because he hasn't riled people who may disagree with him, particularly on Brexit, it seems unlikely he will face the same galvanised opposition against him like the DUP has garnered in other constituencies such as South Belfast.
Based on these factors and the raw numbers, the DUP should be on course to retain the constituency.
CANDIDATES:
Naomi Long (ALL)
Carl McClean (UUP)
Gavin Robinson (DUP)
2017 SHARE OF VOTE:
DUP – 55.8%
ALL – 36.0%
UUP – 3.3%
SF – 2.1%
Green – 1.3%
Cons – 1.0%
SDLP – 0.4%
Ind – 0.1%
Electorate: 64,547
Majority: 8,474
