Editing Ian Paisley (section)

===Election to European Parliament===
Paisley opposed the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC) but stood for election to the [[European Parliament]] to give a platform to his views and those of his supporters. In June 1979, in the [[1979 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|first election]] to the European Parliament, Paisley won one of the three Northern Ireland seats. He topped the poll, with 29.8% of the first preference votes.<ref name=cain79>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch79.htm A Chronology of the Conflict – 1979] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206183455/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch79.htm |date=6 December 2010 }}. [[Conflict Archive on the Internet]] (CAIN).</ref> On 17 July, Paisley interrupted the opening proceedings of the European Parliament to protest that the [[Union Jack]] outside the building was flying upside down.<ref name=cain79/> [[Louise Weiss]], who presided over the Parliament, dealt with the interruption swiftly and later said of it that she was used to dealing with "recalcitrant youngsters".<ref><!--http://www.europeanvoice.com/archive/article.asp?id=7892-->[http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/a-number-of-names-worth-remembering-…/37506.aspx A number of names worth remembering ...] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922232418/https://www.politico.eu/ |date=22 September 2021 }}, ''[[European Voice]]'', 26 November 1998</ref> On 18 July, Paisley tried to interrupt [[Jack Lynch]]—then [[Taoiseach]] (Irish prime minister) and [[President of the European Council]]—as he was making a speech in the Parliament. Paisley was shouted down by other MEPs.<ref name=cain79/>

Paisley easily retained his seat in every European election until he stood down in 2004, receiving the highest popular vote of any British MEP (although as Northern Ireland uses a different electoral system from Great Britain for European elections, the figures are not strictly comparable).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3701187.stm |title=BBC 2004 election coverage |work=BBC News |date=1 June 2004 |access-date=19 June 2010 |archive-date=16 July 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040716162244/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3701187.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>