The race for Northern Ireland's 18 Westminster seats began tonight as nominations closed for the General Election.
A total of 105 candidates threw their hats in the ring for this years Westminster contest.
The four main parties - the Democratic Unionists, Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP are running in all 18 constituencies.
The Alliance Party is contesting 12 seats.
Notable absences from the ballot papers include the loyalist Progressive Unionists, whose party leader David Ervine has decided not to run in East Belfast, and UK Unionist leader Robert McCartney who decided to stand aside in the North Down seat he once held to give the DUP a clear run.
The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition and the Green Party have also opted not to fight the 18 Westminister seats, choosing instead to focus on the local government elections, which will also be held on May 5th.
The Workers Party will field six candidates - four of them in the Belfast constituencies.
The Conservative Party has nominated candidates in three constituencies - East Belfast, North Down and Strangford.
The quirkiest campaign will be mounted by the Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket which is standing in six seats. However, Lynda Gilby is contesting four of the seats - all of them in Belfast.
Independent candidates, including West Tyrone Assembly member Dr Kieran Deeny, are also running in East Derry, Newry and Armagh, North Down.
In West Belfast, Professor Liam Kennedy is mounting a campaign backed by relatives of the Omagh bomb and those also bereaved by violence from loyalist and republican paramilitary groups.
Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson is contesting his first election for the party in Lagan Valley since defecting from the Ulster Unionists last year.
Bloody Sunday campaigner Eamonn McCann will run for the Socialist Environmental Alliance in the Foyle constituency where SDLP leader Mark Durkan and Sinn Féin general secretary Mitchel McLaughlin are engaged in a tight contest for the seat.