The Protestant Unionist Party (PUP) was a unionist political party operating in Northern Ireland from 1966 to 1971. It was the forerunner of the modern Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and emerged from the Ulster Protestant Action (UPA) movement. The UPA had two councillors elected, and in 1967 both were re-elected as PUP candidates. They stood six candidates against the relatively moderate Ulster Unionist Party members of the parliament of Northern Ireland in the 1969 election and polled over 20,000 votes.