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| Interim bodies |
| Elections |
| Members |
| See also |
The 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly elections were held on 20 October 1982 in an attempt to re-establish devolution and power-sharing in Northern Ireland. [1] Although the Northern Ireland Assembly officially lasted until 1986 (and was seen as being a continuation of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention of 1975) it met infrequently.
The electoral system proved to be hugely controversial. While there was general acceptance that the elections should take part using the Single Transferable Vote system, the decision to use the same twelve constituency boundaries used in the 1973 Assembly election rather than the new seventeen constituency boundaries which were later adopted in the 1983 general election was heavily criticised.[ by whom? ] The issue was that the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland's Final Recommendations, which recommended that all future Assembly elections should be held using seventeen constituencies each electing five members, had not yet been approved by Parliament and therefore remained, technically, provisional recommendations.[ citation needed ]
The consequence of this was that the elections were held using constituencies which varied greatly in size and electorate with different numbers of seats, ranging from Belfast West with an electorate of 57,726 and four members to South Antrim with an electorate of 131,734 and ten members. In the latter constituency this resulted in huge administrative problems with a record 27 candidates standing necessitating 23 counts over 36 hours with the count not completed until two days after the election.[ citation needed ]
On the Unionist side, the Assembly was welcomed, with some[ who? ] hailing it nostalgically as 'a new Stormont'. Consequently, many Nationalists were suspicious of the new body. The Irish Independence Party, which had moderate electoral success in the elections of the previous year, immediately announced that they would boycott the elections and called on other nationalists to follow suit. However Sinn Féin was keen to test its electoral support and both it and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) announced that they would contest the elections but refuse to take any seats which they won. The smaller People's Democracy, which had won two council seats in an electoral alliance with the Irish Republican Socialist Party the previous year, did likewise.
Great interest centred on the performance of Sinn Féin, fighting its first full election and on the inter-Unionist rivalry between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The former had pulled ahead in the European election of 1979 and the Local Council Elections of 1981 but had suffered a setback in the 1982 by-election which followed the murder of Robert Bradford.
The results were seen as a triumph for the new electoral strategy of Sinn Féin which gained 5 seats and narrowly missed winning seats in Belfast North and Fermanagh and South Tyrone. The SDLP were disappointed with their 14 seats and one of these was subsequently lost in a by-election to the UUP as Seamus Mallon was disqualified following a successful UUP election petition on the grounds that he was ineligible as he was a member of Seanad Éireann at the time.
On the Unionist side the UUP gained a clear lead over the DUP, while the United Ulster Unionist Party failed to make an impact and, as a result, folded two years later. In the centre Alliance Party consolidated with 10 seats including unexpected wins in North and West Belfast. The Workers' Party failed to make a breakthrough despite respectable vote shares in places like North and West Belfast.
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| Party | Votes | % | +/- | Seats | % | +/- | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UUP | 188,277 | 29.7 | -9.2 [b] | 26 | 33.8 | -5 [b] | |||
| DUP | 145,528 | 23.0 | +8.2 | 21 | 27.3 | +9 | |||
| SDLP | 118,891 | 18.8 | -4.9 | 14 | 18.2 | -3 | |||
| Sinn Féin | 64,191 | 10.1 | — | 5 | 6.5 | +5 | |||
| Alliance | 58,851 | 9.3 | -0.5 | 10 | 13.0 | +2 | |||
| Workers' Party | 17,216 | 2.7 | +0.5 | 0 | — | 0 | |||
| UPUP | 14,916 | 2.3 | -1.2 | 1 | 1.3 | 0 | |||
| UUUP | 11,550 | 1.8 | 0 | — | 0 | ||||
| Ind. Unionist | 9,567 | 1.5 | — | 1 | 1.3 | +1 | |||
| Independent SDLP | 2,052 | 0.3 | -0.3 | 0 | — | 0 | |||
| Independent | 745 | 0.1 | — | 0 | — | 0 | |||
| Ecology | 707 | 0.1 | — | 0 | — | 0 | |||
| Newtownabbey Labour | 560 | 0.1 | — | 0 | — | 0 | |||
| People's Democracy | 442 | 0.1 | — | 0 | — | 0 | |||
| Communist | 415 | 0.1 | — | 0 | — | 0 | |||
| Ulster Liberal | 65 | 0.0 | — | 0 | — | 0 | |||
| Peace | 19 | 0.0 | — | 0 | — | 0 | |||
| Total | 633,120 | 100.0 | 0 | 78 | 100.0 | 0 | |||
| Source: Ark | |||||||||
The 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Wednesday, 26 November 2003, after being suspended for just over a year. It was the second election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. Each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constituencies elected six members by single transferable vote, giving a total of 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). The election was contested by 18 parties and many independent candidates.
West Tyrone is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Órfhlaith Begley, a member of Sinn Féin, who has represented the constituency since the 2018 by-election.
Mid Ulster is a parliamentary constituency in the UK House of Commons. The current MP is Cathal Mallaghan, of Sinn Féin, who was first elected at the 2024 election.
Fermanagh and South Tyrone is a Northern Ireland parliamentary constituency in the British House of Commons. It is currently represented by Pat Cullen of Sinn Féin.
East Antrim is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. It is currently represented by Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party.
South Antrim is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Robin Swann of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), first elected in the 2024 general election.
Belfast North is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is John Finucane.
Belfast South was a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.
The Northern Ireland Assembly established in 1982 represented an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to restore the devolution to Northern Ireland which had been suspended 10 years previously. The Assembly was dissolved in 1986.
The 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Wednesday, 7 March 2007. It was the third election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. The election saw endorsement of the St Andrews Agreement and the two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin, along with the Alliance Party, increase their support, with falls in support for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
The Belfast South by-election was held on 4 March 1982 following the death of Robert Bradford, Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament for Belfast South.
The 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 5 May, following the dissolution of the Northern Ireland Assembly at midnight on 24 March 2011. It was the fourth election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998.
On 9 June 2011, a by-election was held for the United Kingdom constituency of Belfast West. The by-election was prompted by the resignation of the constituency's Member of Parliament, Gerry Adams in advance of his candidacy in the 2011 general election in the Republic of Ireland.
The fourth Northern Ireland Assembly was the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland following the 2011 assembly election on 5 May 2011. This iteration of the elected Assembly convened for the first time on 12 May 2011 in Parliament Buildings in Stormont, and ran for a full term.
The 2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 5 May 2005 and all 18 seats in Northern Ireland were contested. 1,139,993 people were eligible to vote, down 51,016 from the 2001 general election. 63.49% of eligible voters turned out, down 5.1 percentage points from the last general election.
The 2015 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 7 May 2015 and all 18 seats were contested. 1,236,765 people were eligible to vote, up 67,581 from the 2010 general election. 58.45% of eligible voters turned out, an increase of half a percentage point from the last general election. This election saw the return of Ulster Unionists to the House of Commons, after they targeted 4 seats but secured 2.
The 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday, 2 March 2017. The election was held to elect members (MLAs) following the resignation of deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in protest over the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. McGuinness' position was not filled, and thus by law his resignation triggered an election.
The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months after the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed due to the resignation of the First Minister, Paul Givan of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), in protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Local elections were held in Northern Ireland on Thursday 2 May 2019. The last elections were held in 2014. 819 candidates contested 462 seats across Northern Ireland's 11 local government districts. 1,305,384 people aged 18 and over were eligible to vote, and 52.7% of the electorate turned out.
The 2024 general election in Northern Ireland was held on 4 July 2024, with all 18 Northern Irish seats in the House of Commons contested. The general election occurred after the recently completed constituency boundaries review.
