In the 2001 general election the SDLP and Sinn Féin both targeted the constituency heavily, in the hope that a shift in the vote from one nationalist party to the other would enable them to outpoll the Ulster Unionists.

However, the election was complicated by the intervention of the independent candidate Dr. Kieran Deeny, campaigning on the sole issue of the retention of the hospital in Omagh.

Many local activists and voters appeared to agree with this, with some making their support public, but in the end the UUP, DUP and SDLP all fielded candidates.

He was succeeded by Barry McElduff, also of Sinn Féin, who was MP for just over half a year before he announced his resignation on 15 January 2018, following widespread backlash against a video he posted on Twitter that appeared to mock victims of the Kingsmill massacre.

[2] This triggered a by-election won by Sinn Féin's Órfhlaith Begley, who has remained the MP for West Tyrone to the present day.