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.
It was held on the same day as elections for Northern Ireland's 26 local councils, the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly elections, a number of local elections in England and the United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum. As in the past, the 2011 election to the Assembly was conducted using the single transferable vote (STV) system of proportional representation. The 108 seats were contested in 18 constituencies by 218 candidates, including 15 independents and the nominees of 14 separate political parties.
1,210,009 individuals were registered to vote in the 2011 Assembly election (representing an increase of 9.2% compared to the 2007 Assembly election). Turnout in the 2011 Assembly election was 55.7%, a decline of almost seven percentage points from the previous Assembly election and down over 14 percentage points from the first election to the Assembly in 1998.
As in the 2007 election, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin (SF) remained the two largest parties in the Assembly, with the DUP winning 38 and Sinn Féin winning 29 of the Assembly's 108 seats. The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) won 16 seats, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 14 and the Alliance 8, while one seat each was won by the Green Party, Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) and an independent candidate.
Following the results of the election, Peter Robinson of the DUP and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin were nominated and subsequently re-elected as First Minister and deputy First Minister on 12 May 2011. The sole change to the Northern Ireland Executive was that the UUP lost a ministerial post to the Alliance.
Overview The election was the first since the devolution of policing and justice powers to the assembly. In contrast to previous elections, it was relatively uncontroversial. The turnout was one of the lowest ever in a Northern Ireland election. Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party both continued to make gains, although the DUP vote share was slightly down. The election was a disaster for the Ulster Unionist Party, which came behind the Social Democratic and Labour Party in terms of first preference vote, although the UUP won more seats. The Ulster Unionist vote collapsed in Belfast, where it was eclipsed by the Alliance Party's, and in a number of other constituencies considered safe such as North Down. The election was also poor for the SDLP, which lost two seats.
The Alliance Party performed well, gaining a second seat in East Belfast (which a former Progressive Unionist Party member lost and the PUP failed to regain), while increasing the Alliance vote share significantly. Traditional Unionist Voice secured a single seat in North Antrim; its vote share was down from the May 2010 elections to the UK Parliament. Despite their first preference vote halving, the Green Party held their sole seat in North Down while the People before Profit Alliance narrowly failed to take the final seat in the Foyle constituency. The only member elected as an independent in 2007 (in West Tyrone) retired, leaving a single independent in the new Assembly (after three independents first elected on other tickets had retired or lost re-election), compared to five at the end of the previous one.
Results
As in the previous Assembly, the DUP's voting strength was reduced by one with the re-election on 12 May of Willie Hay (DUP, Foyle) to the non-partisan office of Speaker."Allister outraged as Speaker retakes post with help of Sinn Fein" , by Noel McAdam, The Belfast Telegraph, 13 May 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2011"Sinn Fein's Francie Molloy likely to be Stormont Speaker in 2014" , by Noel McAdam, The Belfast Telegraph, 13 May 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011
Ten seats on the Northern Ireland Executive were filled by the new Assembly on 16 May according to party strength under the d'Hondt method of proportional representation.
In addition, in separate votes on 12 and 16 May, the Assembly as a whole re-elected party leaders David Ford (Alliance), Peter Robinson (DUP) and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) to their seats on the Executive as, respectively, Minister of Justice and First Minister and deputy First Minister. Thus the Executive's total membership, as in the past, is 13."New Executive ministers to be appointed on Monday ", BBC News, 16 May 2011"Stormont Assembly votes in new team of Ministers" , by Dan Keenan, The Irish Times, 17 May 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011
Numbers as reported by Wednesday, 11 May 2011.
Constituency results
Distribution of seats by constituency
Party affiliation of the six Assembly members returned by each constituency.NI Assembly Election 2011 Results , The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, retrieved Monday 9 May 2011 The first column indicates the party of the Member of the House of Commons (MP) returned by the corresponding parliamentary constituency in the general election of 6 May 2010 (under the "first past the post" method).Westminster General Election (NI) Thursday 6 May 2010 , compiled by Martin Melaugh, CAIN Web Service. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
(The constituencies are arranged here in rough geographical order around Lough Neagh from Antrim to Londonderry. To see them in alphabetical order, click the small square icon after "Constituency"; to restore this geographical order, click the icon after "No." at the left.)
No. 2010 MPConstituencyCandi-datesTotalseats GreenSinnFéinSDLPAlli-anceUUPDUP TUVInd.Seatgainedby Seatlostby 1 DUPNorth Antrim116-1--131-TUVSDLP 2 DUP East Antrim136-1-113--SFUUP 3 DUP South Antrim106-1-113--DUPSDLP 4 DUP Belfast North116-21--3--DUPUUP 5 SFBelfast West146-51------- 6 SDLPBelfast South146-12111---- 7 APNIBelfast East176---213--APNIPUP 8 Ind. North Down1361--113--DUPUUP 9 DUPStrangford116---123--UUPDUP 10 DUP Lagan Valley116---114--DUPSF 11 DUP Upper Bann126-11-22---- 12 SDLP South Down116-22-11---- 13 SF Newry and Armagh116-31-11---- 14 SF Fermanagh & South Tyrone116-3--12--SFSDLP 15 SF West Tyrone116-31-11-- SDLP UUP Ind DUP 16 SF Mid Ulster136-31-11---- 17 SDLP Foyle126-23--1---- 18 DUP East Londonderry126-11--3-1IndUUP18218108129148163811 ---+2–2+1-+2+1–4 -1081271671636-5- ---–1--–2--+4–1 Prog. U. 2561081281671836-11 Prog. U. 108-241862730-11 Prog. U. 1 UKUP 108-182462820-42 Prog. U. 5 UKUP, 2 NIWC
Three of the four independents elected in 1998 ran as Independent Unionists NIWC = Northern Ireland Women's Coalition; Prog. U. = Progressive Unionist Party; TUV = Traditional Unionist Voice; UKUP = United Kingdom Unionist Party
Share of first-preference votes Percentage of each constituency's first-preference votes.Compiled by looking up each constituency at this site: "Full Northern Ireland Results" , BBC News, 11 May 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2011 Four highest percentages in each constituency shaded; absolute majorities underlined. The constituencies are arranged in the geographic order described for the table above; click the icon next to "Constituency" to see them in alphabetical order. [The totals given here are the sum of all valid ballots cast in each constituency, and the percentages are based on such totals. The turnout percentages in the last column, however, are based upon all ballots cast, which also include anything from twenty to a thousand invalid ballots in each constituency. The total valid ballots' percentage of the eligible electorate can correspondingly differ by 0.1% to 2% from the turnout percentage.]
No.2015 MPMP's % of 2015 vote ConstituencyGreenSinnFéinSDLPAlli-anceUUPDUP TUVInd.Others.TotalvotesEligibleelector-ateTurn-out % 1 DUP46.4%North Antrim15.39.14.611.747.611.640,31374,76054.8% 2 DUP45.9%East Antrim2.38.24.615.516.946.24.61.829,02361,61747.8% 3 DUP33.9%South Antrim 14.510.614.217.838.33.41.332,16465,23150.1% 4 DUP40.0%Belfast North31.912.06.38.237.11.03.533,47068,11950.3% 5 SF71.1% Belfast West66.113.21.14.27.57.60.434,64761,52057.9% 6 SDLP41.0%Belfast South2.812.523.919.813.624.33.232,30862,48452.4% 7 All. 37.2%Belfast East1.83.20.826.39.744.12.26.65.432,34761,26353.6% 8 Ind.63.3%North Down7.91.02.718.610.444.22.213.028,09862,17045.9% 9 DUP45.9%Strangford 3.08.514.420.448.82.82.029,66862,17848.5% 10 DUP49.8%Lagan Valley1.73.46.112.420.453.12.935,48767,53253.1% 11 DUP33.8%Upper Bann 27.211.46.524.627.12.40.642,36277,90555.3% 12 SDLP48.5%South Down2.730.935.82.110.612.55.641,72673,24058.1% 13 SF42.0%Newry & Armagh 40.823.51.618.713.11.80.20.246,51477,54461.3% 14 SF45.5%Fermanagh & S. Tyrone40.39.61.819.324.42.62.147,99970,98569.0% 15 SF48.4%West Tyrone50.28.62.210.323.15.739,30362,97064.0% 16 SF52.0%Mid Ulster49.214.70.910.316.74.90.62.742,73866,60265.3% 17 SDLP44.7%Foyle 34.035.30.9 18.48.03.438,84768,66356.6% 18 DUP34.6%East Londonderry 21.114.95.58.436.94.58.634,72265,22654.1% 18 0.9 26.9 14.2 7.7 13.2 30.0 2.5 2.2 2.3 661,7361,210,00955.6% –0.8 +0.8 –1.0 +2.5 –1.7–0.1+2.5 –1.6 –0.5 –28,577+102,105 –7.2% 1.7 26.2 15.2 5.2 14.9 30.1 — 3.82.8690,313 1,107,904 62.9% 0.4 23.5 17.0 3.7 22.7 25.7 — 5.62.8692,026 1,097,526 63.1% 0.1 17.6 22.0 6.5 21.3 18.1 — 10.93.5823,565 1,178,556 69.9%
Independent Unionist vote in 1998 (2.8%) included in the Independent column (not "others"). TUV = Traditional Unionist Voice.
Votes cast for minor parties and independents Out of the 22 candidates from the seven parties which won no seats in 2011, the four candidates who won more than 1,000 first-preference votes (and more than 4% of the total first preferences) in their respective constituencies were: Eamonn McCann of the People Before Profit Alliance in Foyle: 3,120 (8.0%), Henry Reilly of the UK Independence Party in South Down: 2,332 (5.6%), Gerry Carroll of People Before Profit in Belfast West: 1,661 (4.8%), and Brian Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party in Belfast East: 1,493 (4.6%)Four weeks after the election, in which he was the Progressive Unionists' only candidate, Brian Ervine announced that he would resign as party leader. "PUP leader Brian Ervine to stand down" , BBC News, 2 June 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2011
Three-fifths, or 8,606 (60%), of the 14,338 first preferences cast for the seven minor parties went to these four candidates.
Of the 15 independent candidates, running in 9 separate constituencies, the 8 who won more than 1,000 first-preference votes (and over 2.5% of the first-preference total) were: David McClarty, MLA, formerly Ulster Unionist, re-elected in East Londonderry: 3,003 (8.6%), Alan McFarland, MLA, formerly Ulster Unionist, defeated in North Down: 1,879 (6.7%), Alan Chambers, also losing in North Down: 1,765 (6.3%), Dawn Purvis, MLA, formerly Progressive Unionist, defeated in Belfast East (see above): 1,702 (5.3%), Paul McFadden in Foyle: 1,280 (3.3%), Raymond McCord in Belfast North: 1,176 (3.5%), Paddy McGowan in West Tyrone: 1,145 (2.9%), and Eugene McMenamin, also in West Tyrone: 1,096 (2.8%)
A majority (8,395 or 54%) of the 15,535 first-preference votes cast for independents went to the first four of these candidates, three of whom had been elected by other parties in 2007. David McClarty was the only successful independent candidate.
Seats changing hands The Alliance gained a seat in Belfast East (from Dawn Purvis, an independent elected as a Progressive Unionist). Net gain +1. The Democratic Unionist Party gained seats from the UUP in Belfast North and North Down, but lost one to the UUP in Strangford. The DUP also gained seats in the Lagan Valley (from SF) and South Antrim (from SDLP), but lost a seat in West Tyrone (to UUP or SDLP). Net gain +2.