FORMER Belfast deputy mayor Christopher Stalford has been selected as the DUP's second candidate to run in South Belfast.
The Balmoral councillor will run alongside junior minister and former Stormont special adviser Emma Pengelly.
Ms Pengelly's co-option to the seat last year in place of Jimmy Spratt prompted DUP councillor Ruth Patterson to quit the party.
Ms Patterson now plans to run as an independent in the constituency with high-profile loyalist Jamie Bryson acting as her campaign manager.
In an interview last year, Mr Spratt endorsed his successor at Stormont, saying that if Ms Patterson or Mr Stalford had been chosen as his replacement he would not have retired.
"I don't accept that either of them would have been a better replacement than Emma Pengelly and certainly if any of the two of them had been going to be appointed I would still be the MLA for South Belfast and would have continued up until the end of the mandate," Mr Spratt said.
A DUP spokesman said all its candidates would be confirmed in due course.
