1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election
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All 108 seats to theNorthern Ireland Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 69.8% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Election results. Voters elect 6 assembly members from the 18 constituencies. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This article is part ofa serieswithin the Politics of the United Kingdomon the |
The1998 Northern Ireland Assembly electiontook place on Thursday, 25 June 1998. This was the first election to the new devolvedNorthern Ireland Assembly.Six members from each of Northern Ireland's eighteenWestminster Parliamentaryconstituencies were elected bysingle transferable vote,giving a total of 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
Background and campaign
[edit]The election was the culmination of the years longPeace Processthat had resulted in theGood Friday Agreementon 10th of April 1998. The Agreement had been the result of multi-party talks in Northern Ireland, as well as talks with the British and Irish governments. The Agreement would need to be endorsed byreferendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Irelandthat were scheduled for the 22nd of May.[1]
Of the parties who'd won election in 1996 to theNorthern Ireland Forumonly the DUP and UK Unionist Party opposed the Agreement, encouraging a No vote in the referendum. Whilst the UUP officially supported the Agreement, there was significant dissent within its ranks. Several high profile members, including six of their ten MPs, opposed the Agreement. On 18th of April the ruling council of the UUP backed the Agreement with 540 delegates in favour and 120 against.
On 24 April the loyalist paramilitary organisation, theUlster Defence Associationannounced that it was in support of the Agreement. However on the 1st of May theOrange Ordercame out in opposition.[2]
At the Sinn FéinArd Fheison the 10th of May the party voted to end its 77 year policy of abstentionism from NI government institutions. However, it would continue to refuse to take any seats won at Westminster elections.[3]
Two major issues during both the referendum and subsequent Assembly campaign was that of decommissioning and release of paramilitary prisoners. This was cemented when theIRAreleased a statement saying that it would not agree to decommissioning its weapons.[4]A poll released on the 15th of May showed that a majority of those planning on voting No were going to do so due to the release of prisoners. On the same day theUlster Volunteer Forceannounced a ceasefire in opposition to the Agreement, encouraging a No vote in the referendum.[5]
On the 19th of May, just three days before the referendum was to be held,U2held a concert at Belfast'sWaterfront Hallin support of the Yes campaign. John Hume, the SDLP leader, and David Trimble, the UUP leader, attended and appeared on stage.Bonoheld their hands aloft in an image that became iconic of the campaign. The concert was the first time the two men had campaigned together and is credited with giving the Yes campaign a crucial boost in the final days of the campaign.[6]
In the end the Agreement was endorsed by the people of Northern Ireland with 71.1% voting in favour on a turnout of 81.1%.[7]
Compared to the referendum campaign, the Assembly campaign was much more subdued. However, the issue of decommissioning continued to be a major issue. Following a meeting with theNorthern Ireland Secretary,Mo Mowlam,Vice President of Sinn Fein,Martin McGuinness,warned against "falling into the trap of trying to make decommissioning the most important item on the agenda".
On the 4th of June aNorthern Ireland Officememo on the upcomingIndependent Commission on Policingwas leaked, resulting in controversy as it contained none of the people nominated by the Irish government on the behalf of nationalists.
Results
[edit]The SDLP topped the polls, receiving about 22 percent of the votes. It won a plurality of the first preference votes. This was the first time a nationalist party had ever achieved this in Northern Ireland's history.[8]It was a feat that would not be repeated until the2022 Assembly electionswhen Sinn Féin also topped the poll.
Despite the use of STV, a form of proportional representation, the UUP won four more seats than the SDLP. This has been attributed[9]to several reasons, including:
- Slightly different turnouts across the province, with the result that in the more staunchly unionist east fewer votes were required to elect an MLA than in the SDLP's heartlands in the west.
- The Ulster Unionists proved better at "vote balancing" whereby in the rounds of transfers their candidates were less likely to be eliminated earlier on.
- The Ulster Unionists proved better at attracting transfers from other parties (and due to the vote balancing mentioned above, were more likely to be in a position to benefit from this).
Despite a nationalist party topping the poll with a plurality of votes, unionist parties won a majority of both seats and votes. Of the 108 seats available, 58 designated as unionist, 42 as nationalist and 8 as other. In terms of first preference votes unionist candidates won 50.6% of the vote, compared to nationalists 39.8% and others 8.9% of the vote.[Note 1]
Within unionism
[edit]Whilst the UUP retained its position as the largest party of unionism, its vote share of just 21.25% was the lowest it had ever achieved.[10]The DUP managed to finish just 3.24% behind the UUP, which was considered a significant success. Of the smaller unionist parties theUK Unionist Partymanaged to win five seats, and theProgressive Unionist Partytwo seats. This was an improvement for the UKU compared to the1995 Northern Ireland Forum election,whilst the PUP retained its two seats. TheUlster Democratic Partyhowever failed to win any seats in the Assembly and the party dissolved before the 2003 Assembly election. In addition to the four unionist parties elected, three independent unionists were also elected to the assembly.
Within nationalism
[edit]The election was considered a success for the SDLP, which not only secured the largest vote share, but also increased its number of seats compared to the 1996 Forum elections. Sinn Féin also had a successful election by increasing its share of both votes and seats. Unlike unionism, where the vote was split between several different parties, the nationalist vote was split between just two and there were no significant independent nationalist campaigns.
Other parties
[edit]The Alliance Party had a disappointing night with their vote share remaining unchanged and the net loss of one seat. The election continued the pattern of the Alliance Party winning seats only in heavily unionist areas. TheNI Women's Coalitionhad a successful night, winning two seats. This would be the only Assembly election in which the party would win any seats.[11]
Results summary
[edit]Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Social Democratic and Labour Party | 177,963 | 21.96 | +0.6 | 24 | +3 | |
Ulster Unionist Party | 172,225 | 21.25 | -2.9 | 28 | -2 | |
Democratic Unionist Party | 145,917 | 18.01 | -0.8 | 20 | -4 | |
Sinn Féin | 142,858 | 17.63 | +2.2 | 18 | +1 | |
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | 52,636 | 6.50 | 0.0 | 6 | -1 | |
UK Unionist Party | 36,541 | 4.51 | +0.8 | 5 | +2 | |
Independent Unionist | 24,339 | 3.00 | N/A | 3 | +3 | |
Progressive Unionist Party | 20,634 | 2.55 | -1.0 | 2 | – | |
Northern Ireland Women's Coalition | 13,019 | 1.61 | +0.6 | 2 | – | |
Ulster Democratic Party | 8,651 | 1.07 | -1.1 | – | -2 | |
Labour Party of Northern Ireland | 2,729 | 0.34 | New | – | – | |
Workers' Party (Ireland) | 1,989 | 0.25 | -0.3 | – | – | |
Northern Ireland Conservatives | 1,835 | 0.23 | -0.3 | – | – | |
Ulster Independence Movement | 1,227 | 0.15 | -0.4 | – | – | |
Natural Law Party | 832 | 0.10 | 0.0 | – | – | |
Socialist Party | 789 | 0.10 | New | – | – | |
Green Party of Northern Ireland | 710 | 0.09 | -0.4 | – | – | |
Independent | 5,392 | 0.67 | N/A | – | – | |
Total | 810,286 | 100.00 | – | 108 | – | |
Valid votes | 810,286 | 98.39 | ||||
Invalid/blank votes | 13,248 | 1.61 | ||||
Total votes | 823,534 | 100.00 | ||||
Registered voters/turnout | 1,178,556 | 69.88 |
The seat and vote change in the table are in comparison to the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum elections.
- [Note 1]Only the independent unionist candidates who got elected are shown in the vote totals
Distribution of seats by constituency
[edit]Party affiliation of the six Assembly members returned by each constituency. The first column indicates the party of the Member of theHouse of Commons(MP) returned by the corresponding parliamentary constituency in the1997 United Kingdom general electionunder thefirst-past-the-post votingmethod. A number highlighted inboldindicates the party won the highest number of seats in that constituency.
Party of MP,1997 | Constituency | Northern Ireland Assembly seats | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | ||||||||||||
APNI | DUP | NI WC | PUP | SDLP | Sinn Féin |
UKU | UUP | Ind. | ||||
DUP | North Antrim | 6 | - | 3 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 2 | - | |
UUP | East Antrim | 6 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | - | |
UUP | South Antrim | 6 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | - | |
UUP | Belfast North | 6 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | |
Sinn Féin | Belfast West | 6 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | |
UUP | Belfast South | 6 | - | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | |
DUP | Belfast East | 6 | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 2 | - | |
UK Unionist | North Down | 6 | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 3 | - | |
UUP | Strangford | 6 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | |
UUP | Lagan Valley | 6 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | - | |
UUP | Upper Bann | 6 | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | 1 | |
SDLP | South Down | 6 | - | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | - | 1 | - | |
SDLP | Newry and Armagh | 6 | - | 1 | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | - | |
UUP | Fermanagh & South Tyrone | 6 | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | 2 | - | |
UUP | West Tyrone | 6 | - | 1 | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | - | |
Sinn Féin | Mid Ulster | 6 | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | 3 | - | 1 | - | |
SDLP | Foyle | 6 | - | 1 | - | - | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | |
UUP | East Londonderry | 6 | - | 1 | - | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | 1 | |
Total | 108 | 6 | 20 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 18 | 5 | 28 | 3 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Melaugh, Martin."The Irish Peace Process - Chronology of Key Events (April 1998 - December 1999)".CAIN Archive.Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^"Orange Order reaffirms stance on agreement".Irish Times. 13 May 1998.Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^"The Struggle Continues".An Phoblacht (Republican News). 14 May 1998.Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^"IRA Statement on Decommissioning".An Phoblacht (Republican News). 30 April 1998.Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^"LVF Ceasefire Statement".CAIN Archive.15 May 1998.Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^Bailie, Stuart (5 August 2020)."John Hume, Bono, Trimble, Ash and the 'Yes' Gig, 1998".Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^"The 1998 Referendums".Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^Melaugh, Martin; McKenna, Fionnuala."Assembly Election (NI) Thursday 25 June 1998".CAIN Archive.Ulster University.Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^Jim, Riley (2 July 2000)."NI Assembly election calculations".ARK.Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^"Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 1998".ARK.Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^O'Rourke, Catherine."Northern Ireland Women's Coalition".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved30 May2023.
- ^"Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 1998".Archivedfrom the original on 14 May 2011.Retrieved12 December2017.
Manifestos
[edit]- It's Time For Tomorrow... Together,Alliance
- Your Best Guarantee for the Future of Northern Ireland,Democratic Unionist Party
- A Fresh Future,Northern Ireland Conservatives
- A New Voice For New Times,Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
- For Real Change – Building a New Ireland,Sinn Féin
- Now, Say Yes To A Future Together,Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Together Within the Union,Ulster Unionist Party
- Manifesto of The Workers' Party,Workers' Party