Nominations for the UUP's next leader are set to close on Friday.
Nominations to become the next leader of the Ulster Unionist Party will close later on Friday.Mr Nesbitt won a contest in 2012 to become leader, but quit in 2017 after disappointing assembly election results.
If Mr Nesbitt is selected to become the leader, he will be the first person to have twice held the top job in the UUP. He is currently the assembly member for Strangford and in June he was appointed as Stormont's Health Minister, a role he is expected to retain if he is ratified as leader. It is understood he will be the only MLA to put his name forward for nomination, meaning the party's deputy leader Robbie Butler and East Antrim MLA John Stewart - who had both been mentioned as possible candidates - will not run for the leadership.In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Butler said that a "revised and refreshed leadership team of the UUP, led by Mike Nesbitt, is an exciting opportunity".
Rules for the nomination process set by officers said any person wishing to run for election needs at least 35 signatures from members across nine of the party's constituency associations.Denis Bradley on witnessing violence as a young priestVigil held in Derry to remember Montserrat Martorell
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