 Mike Nesbitt was elected leader on 31 March 2012, beating the only other candidate, John McCallister, by 536 votes to 129.The Conservatives and the UUP went their separate ways again, with the Northern Ireland Conservatives relaunching as a separate party on 14 June 2012.Although their MEP seat, held by Jim Nicholson, had its vote percentage decreased slightly in the 2014 European election, the party managed to make gains in the local elections of that same day.