Belfast East is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973. It usually shares boundaries with the Belfast East UK Parliament constituency, however the boundaries of the two constituencies were slightly different from 1983 to 1986 and 2010 to 2011 as the Assembly boundaries had not caught up with Parliamentary boundary changes and from 1996 to 1997 when members of the Northern Ireland Forum had been elected from the newly drawn Parliamentary constituencies but the 51st Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected in 1992 under the 1983–95 constituency boundaries, was still in session.
Members were then elected from the constituency to the 1975 Constitutional Convention, the 1982 Assembly, the 1996 Forum and then to the current Assembly from 1998.
For further details of the history and boundaries of the constituency, see Belfast East (UK Parliament constituency).
Members
Election MLA (party) MLA (party) MLA (party) MLA (party) MLA (party) MLA (party) 1973Oliver Napier(Alliance Party)David Bleakley(Labour)Joshua Cardwell(UUP/UPNI) Norman Agnew(UUP) Roy Bradford(UUP)Eileen Paisley(DUP) 1975 Reg Empey(Vanguard) William Craig(Vanguard) 1982 Addie Morrow(Alliance Party) Dorothy Dunlop(UUP) Jeremy Burchill(UUP) Denny Vitty(DUP)Peter Robinson(DUP) 1996John Alderdice(Alliance Party) 5 seats1996–1998Reg Empey(UUP) Jim Rodgers(UUP)Sammy Wilson(DUP) 1998David Ervine(PUP) Ian Adamson(UUP) 2003Naomi Long(Alliance Party)Michael Copeland(UUP)Robin Newton(DUP) January 2007co-optionDawn Purvis(PUP) 2007Wallace Browne(DUP) July 2010co-optionChris Lyttle(Alliance Party) 2011 Judith Cochrane(Alliance Party) Michael Copeland(UUP) Sammy Douglas(DUP) September 2015co-optionAndy Allen(UUP) 2016 Naomi Long(Alliance Party) Joanne Bunting(DUP) 2017 5 seats2017–present July 2019co-option Máire Hendron(Alliance Party) January 2020co-option Naomi Long(Alliance Party)2022 Peter McReynolds(Alliance Party) David Brooks(DUP)
Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.
Elections
Northern Ireland Assembly
2027
2022
2017
2016
2011
2007
2003
1998
1996 forum Successful candidates are shown in bold.1996 Candidates – East Belfast , Northern Ireland Elections
Party Candidate(s) Votes Percentage Peter RobinsonSammy WilsonRobin NewtonIrene LewisWallace Browne11,27029.4 Reg EmpeyJim RodgersIan AdamsonAlan Crowe8,60822.5 John AlderdicePeter OsborneDanny DowMervyn JonesMaureen McConnell7,13018.6 David ErvinePatricia LavertyRosemary ReynoldsJohn McQuillenAlec Gordon3,8029.9 Alan FieldMaureen Ann McCartney2,4966.5 Peter PrendivilleBrian Heading1,2993.4 Robert GirvanJacqueline UptonRonald StittSamuel WalkingshawJoseph McMaster1,1563.1 Michael McVeighBrid DuffyAnna Doherty8622.2 Felicity HustonPearl SagarAnnie QuinnKate CampbellKaren Snoddy4051.1 Ian DonaldsonDorothy Dunlop2910.8 Gail HaslettThomas BlackBarbara HawitesDavid BellMaeve O'Leary1990.5 David BleakleyEdwin Sloan1970.5 Similda OsobaApril McCarthy1610.4 Joe BellMarie Mooney1490.4 Gavin BoydMark BlackDavid McClinton1140.3 DUPJean ToadDavid Kerr930.2 Michael CraigJune Campion450.1 Andrew GibbSarah Stewart380.1 Robert JohnstoneRichard JohnsonIan Long130.0 ChambersIan ArbuthnotAlan Hay110.0
1982
Craig stood as Vanguard, although the party itself had been disbanded four years before.
1975 Constitutional Convention
1973
References