The importance of this constituency to the SDLP cannot be overstated. Consequently it will face a stiff challenge from Sinn Féin, while the DUP will be keen to underscore its position as the holder of the sole unionist seat in a constituency where the unionist total is slipping.
Foyle coincides with the Derry City Council area, having lost some of its wards in the Strabane area when the new constituency of West Tyrone was established. It has the youngest population of all 18 Northern constituencies and also the largest.
It is overwhelmingly Catholic with more than 70 per cent of respondents in the 2001 census describing themselves as such.
It lost some 13 per cent of its electorate under the new registration procedures. This is John Hume's constituency. However, he resigned his Assembly seat in December 2000 while remaining the area's MP. His Stormont replacement, Ms Annie Courtney, was co-opted.
The SDLP has had an eventful time since then with the replacement of Mr Hume by Mr Mark Durkan as leader, and his subsequent election as deputy first minister.
The party had an internal dispute about the selection of Ms Courtney for this election - a decision later overturned. She is now standing as an independent. The party is fielding candidates with a better geographical spread in an all-out effort to compensate for the loss of the significant personal vote of Mr Hume, who got more than 12,000 votes in 1998. Only Mr Durkan survives of the SDLP candidates list in that year.
Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, Sinn Féin chairman, is the principal candidate for his party, with the second SF seat held by Ms Mary Nelis. She was deputy chairwoman of the Assembly's culture, arts and leisure committee. They are joined this time by Mr Raymond McCartney.
Journalist Éamonn McCann is standing for the Socialist Environmental Alliance.
The DUP's Mr Willie Hay, a member of the North's Policing Board, is seeking to secure his place as the sole unionist. He took the second seat last time, but the unionist drift away from Foyle seems inexorable.
The Ulster Unionists polled the fourth highest number of first-preference votes in 1998, but did not progress well with transfers and failed to reach the quota.
Comparisons with the 2001 local elections are particularly valid since the Assembly and council areas coincide. If the voting pattern is repeated, the Assembly seat share-out would probably not change.
However, neither Sinn Féin nor the new-look Durkan-led SDLP team is taking anything for granted.