7th Northern Ireland Assembly | |||
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| |||
Overview | |||
Legislative body | Assembly | ||
Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland | ||
Meeting place | Parliament Buildings, Stormont | ||
Term | 5 May 2022 – present | ||
Election | 2022 Assembly election | ||
Government | Executive of the 7th Assembly | ||
Members | 90 | ||
Speaker | Edwin Poots | ||
First Minister | Michelle O'Neill | ||
Deputy First Minister | Emma Little-Pengelly |
This is a list of the 90 members of the seventh Northern Ireland Assembly , the unicameral devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. The election took place on 5 May 2022, with counting continuing the following 2 days; voter turnout was estimated at 64.4%.
Five MLAs were elected from each of the 18 constituencies. Sinn Féin became the biggest party for the first time, entitling them to the First Minister. Additionally, Alliance, the biggest cross-community party, also had a big increase, overtaking the SDLP and UUP in votes to become third in the assembly, following the DUP, the biggest Unionist party.
The DUP blocked the formation of an Executive until a meeting of the Assembly on 3 February 2024. [1]
Party | Designation | Elected | Current | |
---|---|---|---|---|
● | Sinn Féin | Nationalist | 27 | 27 |
● | Democratic Unionist Party | Unionist | 25 | 24 |
● | Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | Other | 17 | 17 |
● | Ulster Unionist Party | Unionist | 9 | 9 |
♦ | Social Democratic and Labour Party | Nationalist | 8 | 7 |
Independent Unionist | Unionist | 2 | 2 | |
Traditional Unionist Voice | Unionist | 1 | 1 | |
People Before Profit | Other | 1 | 1 | |
Independent Nationalist | Nationalist | 0 | 1 | |
Speaker [n 1] | None | 0 | 1 | |
Totals by Designation | Unionist | 37 | 36 | |
Nationalist | 35 | 35 | ||
Other | 18 | 18 | ||
None | 0 | 1 | ||
Total | 90 | |||
● = Northern Ireland Executive; ♦ = Official Opposition |
Parties arranged roughly on the nationalist-unionist spectrum
* Party Leader in Stormont
† Co-opted to replace an elected MLA
‡ Changed affiliation during the term
° Deputy Speaker
Members are ranked by their order of election, and if co-opted, the position of the person who they co-opted.
* Party Leader in Stormont
† Co-opted to replace an elected MLA
‡ Changed affiliation during the term
Date co-opted | Constituency | Party | Outgoing | Co-optee | Reason | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12 May 2022 | Lagan Valley | DUP | Jeffrey Donaldson | Emma Little Pengelly | Jeffrey Donaldson remaining as the Member of Parliament for Lagan Valley. [2] | |
4 April 2023 | North Antrim | Alliance | Patricia O'Lynn | Sian Mulholland | Patricia O'Lynn resigned. [3] | |
15 September 2023 | East Antrim | DUP | David Hilditch | Cheryl Brownlee | David Hilditch resigned. [4] |
Date | Constituency | Name | Previous affiliation | New affiliation | Circumstance | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 February 2024 | Belfast South | Edwin Poots | DUP | Speaker | Edwin Poots elected Speaker of the Assembly at its first sitting. [5] | ||
3 February 2024 | Newry and Armagh | Justin McNulty | SDLP | Independent Nationalist | Whip suspended after leaving Assembly session early to manage Laois GAA at a gaelic match. [6] |
The Northern Ireland Assembly, often referred to by the metonym Stormont, is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive. It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast.
The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which followed the Good Friday Agreement. The executive is referred to in the legislation as the Executive Committee of the assembly and is an example of consociationalist ("power-sharing") government.
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Emma Little-Pengelly is a Northern Irish barrister and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician serving as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland since February 2024. She has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since 12 May 2022, when she was co-opted to replace DUP party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, who declined to take up his seat, following the 2022 election.
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