2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election

2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election

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All 108 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly
Turnout	63.1% 6.7% [1]
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ian Paisley David Trimble Gerry Adams Party DUP Ulster Unionist Sinn Féin Leader since 30 September 1971 8 September 1995 13 November 1983 Leader's seat North Antrim Upper Bann Belfast West Last election 20 seats, 18.5% 28 seats, 21.3% 18 seats, 16.7% Seats won 30 27 24 Seat change 10 1 6 Popular vote 177,944 156,931 162,758 Percentage 25.7% 22.7% 23.5% Swing 7.2% 1.4% 6.8%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   PUP Leader Mark Durkan David Ford David Ervine Party SDLP Alliance PUP Leader since 10 November 2001 6 October 2001 2002 Leader's seat Foyle South Antrim Belfast East Last election 24 seats, 22.0% 6 seats, 5.6% 2 seats, 2.6% Seats won 18 6 1 Seat change 6 0 1 Popular vote 117,547 25,372 8,032 Percentage 17.0% 3.7% 1.2% Swing 5.0% 1.9% 1.4%   Seventh party   UKUP Leader Robert McCartney Party UK Unionist Leader since 1995 Leader's seat North Down Last election 5 seats, 4.5% Seats won 1 Seat change 4 Popular vote 5,700 Percentage 0.8% Swing 3.7%
Seats won by each party and combined first preference vote share of the largest party. Break down of each party and sectarian camp's seats in constituencies Election results. Voters elect 6 assembly members from the 18 constituencies.
First Minister before election Suspended First Minister after election Suspended

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.

Background

The election was originally planned for May 2003, ^[2] but was delayed by Paul Murphy, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. ^[2]

Several sitting MLAs stood under a different label to the one they had used in the 1998 election. Some had failed to be selected by their parties to stand and so stood as independents, whilst others had changed parties during the course of the assembly. Most of these realignments occurred within the unionist parties, with several defections between existing parties, and two new parties being formed – the United Unionist Coalition (formed by the three MLAs elected as independent unionists, though one later joined the DUP) and the Northern Ireland Unionist Party (formed by four of the five MLAs elected as the UK Unionist Party, though one later left them, joined the DUP for a period, then contested the election as an independent unionist).

The SDLP, which had been Northern Ireland's dominant Irish nationalist party during the 1980s and 1990s, went into this election with concerns that they could lose numerous seats to fellow nationalists Sinn Féin, who had overtaken the SDLP in terms of votes and seats at the 2001 United Kingdom general election. ^{[3] [4] [5]} Commentator, Brian Feeney, said: "The SDLP has a series of baronial figures - John Hume, Seamus Mallon, Eddie McGrady - who hung on to power and didn't groom their successors early enough. They just don't have enough people on the ground in some areas of the province. Sinn Féin, by contrast, has deliberately cultivated collective leadership, bringing forward wave after wave of young, articulate, highly politicised heirs apparent, and their grassroots organisation is awesome." ^[6]

Results

On the unionist side, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) became Northern Ireland's biggest party for the first time in any election, overtaking the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). They gained ten seats, primarily at the expense of smaller unionist parties, ^[7] to become the largest party both in seats and votes, winning thirty overall. ^[8] The UUP increased their vote slightly, despite slipping to third place in first preference votes, and won 27 seats, a net loss of one. Shortly after the election three Ulster Unionist MLAs, Jeffrey Donaldson, Norah Beare and Arlene Foster, quit the party ^{[9] [10]} and later defected to the DUP. ^[11]

On the nationalist side, Sinn Féin saw a big increase in their vote, gaining six seats at the net expense of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, ^[7] for a total of 24 seats. ^[1]

The minor parties all saw a significant fall in their support. The Alliance Party managed to hold all six of its seats despite their vote falling by a third, the Women's Coalition, United Unionist Coalition and Northern Ireland Unionist Party were all wiped out, and the Progressive Unionist Party and UK Unionist Party won just one seat each. Neither the United Unionist Assembly Party nor the Northern Ireland Unionists won any seats.

The biggest surprise of the election came in West Tyrone with the election of the independent Kieran Deeny, a doctor campaigning on the single issue of hospital provision in Omagh. ^[12]

Result by constituencies

Preferable vote.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	DUP	177,944	25.66	30	10
	Sinn Féin	162,758	23.47	24	6
	UUP	156,931	22.63	27	1
	SDLP	117,547	16.95	18	6
	Alliance	25,372	3.66	6	0
	PUP	8,032	1.16	1	1
	NI Women's Coalition	5,785	0.83	0	2
	UK Unionist	5,700	0.82	1	4
	United Unionist Council	2,705	0.39	–	–
	Green (NI)	2,688	0.39	–	–
	Socialist Environmental Alliance	2,394	0.35	–	–
	Workers' Party	1,881	0.27	–	–
	NI Conservatives	1,604	0.23	–	–
	NI Unionist	1,350	0.19	–	–
	Socialist Party	343	0.05	–	–
	Vote For Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket	124	0.02	–	–
	Ulster Third Way	16	0.00	–	–
	Independent	20,234	2.92	1	1
Total		693,408	100.00	108	–
Registered voters/turnout		1,097,526	63.05
Source: ARK

Distribution of seats by constituency

Party affiliation of the six Assembly members returned by each constituency. The first column indicates the party of the Member of the House of Commons (MP) returned by the corresponding parliamentary constituency in the 2001 United Kingdom general election under the first-past-the-post voting method.

Party of MP, 2001		Constituency	Northern Ireland Assembly seats
			Total									Gained by	Formerly held by
				APNI	DUP	PUP	SDLP	Sinn Féin	UKU	UUP	Ind.
	DUP	North Antrim	6	–	3	–	1	1	–	1	–	SF	UUP
	UUP	East Antrim	6	1	3	–	–	–	–	2	–	DUP	UKU
												DUP	SDLP
	UUP	South Antrim	6	1	2	–	1	–	–	2	–	DUP	UKU
	DUP	Belfast North	6	–	2	–	1	2	–	1	–	DUP	Ind. U.
												SF	PUP
	Sinn Féin	Belfast West	6	–	1	–	1	4	–	–	–	DUP	SDLP
	UUP	Belfast South	6	–	1	–	2	1	–	2	–	SF	NIWC
	DUP	Belfast East	6	1	2	1	–	–	–	2	–	–	–
	UUP	North Down	6	1	2	–	–	–	1	2	–	DUP	UUP
												DUP	NIWC
	DUP	Strangford	6	1	3	–	–	–	–	2	–	DUP	UKU
	UUP	Lagan Valley	6	1	1	–	1	–	–	3	–	UUP	UKU
	UUP	Upper Bann	6	–	2	–	1	1	–	2	–	DUP	Ind. U.
	SDLP	South Down	6	–	1	–	2	2	–	1	–	SF	SDLP
	SDLP	Newry and Armagh	6	–	1	–	1	3	–	1	–	SF	SDLP
	Sinn Féin	Fermanagh & South Tyrone	6	–	1	–	1	2	–	2	–	–	–
	Sinn Féin	West Tyrone	6	–	1	–	1	2	–	1	1	Ind. O.	SDLP
	Sinn Féin	Mid Ulster	6	–	1	–	1	3	–	1	–	–	–
	SDLP	Foyle	6	–	1	–	3	2	–	–	–	–	–
	DUP	East Londonderry	6	–	2	–	1	1	–	2	–	DUP	Ind. U.
												SF	SDLP
Total			108	6	30	1	18	24	1	27	1
Change since 1998			–	–	+ 10	– 1	– 6	+ 6	– 4	− 1	– 2	–2 NIWC	–
Elected on 25 June 1998			108	6	20	2	24	18	5	28	3	2 NIWC	–

References

1. Elliott, Sydney (2007). "Sinn Féin: Is There Any Limit to Its Electoral Ambitions? DUP: An Increase in Electoral Advantage over the UUP?". Fortnight (450): 6–8. ISSN   0141-7762. JSTOR   25561856.
2. "The Northern Ireland (Date of Next Assembly Poll) Order 2003". Archived from the original on 3 May 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2006.
3. "2001 General Election - the last election in Northern Ireland". WesleyJohnston.com. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
4. Cowan, Rosie (13 June 2001). "Sinn Fein builds on success while SDLP licks wounds". The Guardian.
5. Murray, Gerard (2005). Sinn Féin and the SDLP: From Alienation to Participation. Jonathan Tonge. London: Hurst. ISBN   1-85065-648-7. OCLC   48784064.
6. Cowan, Rosie (24 November 2003). "Poll could put SDLP on the road to oblivion, say critics". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2023. Once secure as the mainstream nationalist group, the party is being warned that Sinn Féin has stolen its thunder
7. Sproule, Luke (11 May 2022). "NI election 2022: How UUP and SDLP lost their place as Northern Ireland's top parties". BBC News NI. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
8. "CAIN: Issue: Politics: Elections: Assembly Election (NI) Wednesday 26 November 2003". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
9. Moriarty, Gerry (19 December 2003). "Donaldson quits UUP for place on DUP talks team". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
10. McNaney, James (24 February 2022). "Would DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson have defected to the UUP?". UTV. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
11. Tempest, Matthew (5 January 2004). "Ulster Unionist rebels defect to DUP". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
12. "Hospital campaigner forms party". BBC News. 13 February 2004. Retrieved 3 March 2023.

Manifestos

• Alliance Works, Alliance
• Fair Deal Manifesto 2003, Democratic Unionist Party
• Meeting the Challenges - Seizing the Opportunities, Green Party Northern Ireland
• Assembly Election 2003, Northern Ireland Conservatives
• Change the Face of Politics, Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
• 2003 Election Manifesto, Progressive Unionist Party
• Agenda for Government, Sinn Féin
• Reshaping Government, Rebuilding Public Services, Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Turn the Tide, Socialist Environmental Alliance
• Manifesto 2003, Ulster Unionist Party
• It Wont Work... Without the Workers' Party, Workers' Party