1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election

none May 2022 July 2012 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election parliamentary no Northern Ireland Forum 1996 Members of the Northern Ireland Forum MLAs elected 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election 2003 All 108 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly 25 June 1998 69.8% David Trimble Washington D.C.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 David Trimble 8 September 1995 Ulster Unionist Party Upper Bann 30 seats, 24.2% 28 2 172,225 21.3% 2.9% 160x160px John Hume 28 November 1979 Social Democratic and Labour Party Foyle 21 seats, 21.4% 24 3 177,963 22.0% 0.6% 160x160px Ian Paisley 30 September 1971 Democratic Unionist Party North Antrim 24 seats, 18.8% 20 4 145,917 18.5% 0.3% Gerry Adams, 1997.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Gerry Adams 13 November 1983 Sinn Féin Belfast West 17 seats, 15.5% 18 1 142,858 16.7% 1.2% Lord Alderdice.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 John Alderdice 3 October 1987 Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Belfast East 7 seats, 6.5% 6 1 52,636 5.6% 0.9% UK Unionist Party Robert McCartney 1995 UK Unionist Party North Down 3 seats, 3.7% 5 2 36,541 4.5% 0.8% Progressive Unionist Party Hugh Smyth 1979 Progressive Unionist Party Ran in Belfast West (lost) 2 seats, 3.5% 2 20,634 2.6% 0.9% Northern Ireland Women's Coalition Monica McWilliams & Pearl Sagar 1996 #00FFFF Northern Ireland Women's Coalition Belfast South (McWilliams)Ran in Belfast East (lost) (Sagar) 2 seats, 1.0% 2 13,019 1.6% 0.6% 350px Seats won by each party and combined first preference vote share of the largest party. 350px Break down of each party and community's seats in constituencies Election results. Voters elect 6 assembly members from the 18 constituencies. First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland after election David Trimble (UUP) Seamus Mallon (SDLP) The 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 25 June 1998. This was the first election to the new devolved Northern Ireland Assembly. Six members from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constituencies were elected by single transferable vote, giving a total of 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). Background and campaign The election was the culmination of the years long Peace Process that had resulted in the Good Friday Agreement on 10 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 by referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland that were scheduled for the 22nd of May.https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/peace/pp9899.htm The Irish Peace Process - Chronology of Key Events (April 1998 - December 1999) Melaugh Martin CAIN Archive 30 May 2023 Of the parties who had won election in 1996 to the Northern Ireland Forum only 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 18 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, the Ulster Defence Association announced that it was in support of the Agreement. However on 1 May the Orange Order came out in opposition.https://www.irishtimes.com/news/orange-order-reaffirms-stance-on-agreement-1.152117 Orange Order reaffirms stance on agreement Irish Times 13 May 1998 30 May 2023 At the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis on 10 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.https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/3476 The Struggle Continues 14 May 1998 An Phoblacht (Republican News) 30 May 2023 Two major issues during both the referendum and subsequent Assembly campaign was that of decommissioning and release of paramilitary prisoners. This was cemented when the IRA released a statement saying that it would not agree to decommissioning its weapons.https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/peace/docs/ira30498.htm IRA Statement on Decommissioning 30 April 1998 An Phoblacht (Republican News) 30 May 2023 A poll released on 15 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 the Ulster Volunteer Force announced a ceasefire in opposition to the Agreement, encouraging a No vote in the referendum.https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/peace/docs/lvf15598.htm LVF Ceasefire Statement 15 May 1998 CAIN Archive 30 May 2023 On 19 May, just three days before the referendum was to be held, U2 held a concert at Belfast's Waterfront Hall in support of the Yes campaign. John Hume, the SDLP leader, and David Trimble, the UUP leader, attended and appeared on stage. Bono held 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.https://www.digwithit.com/?p=1470 John Hume, Bono, Trimble, Ash and the 'Yes' Gig, 1998 Bailie Stuart 5 August 2020 30 May 2023 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%.https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fref98.htm The 1998 Referendums 30 May 2023 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 the Northern 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 4 June a Northern Ireland Office memo on the upcoming Independent Commission on Policing was leaked, resulting in controversy as it contained none of the people nominated by the Irish government on the behalf of nationalists. Results 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.https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/politics/election/ra1998.htm Assembly Election (NI) Thursday 25 June 1998 Melaugh Martin McKenna Fionnuala CAIN Archive Ulster University 30 May 2023 It was a feat that would not be repeated until the 2022 Assembly elections when 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 https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/friley98.htm NI Assembly election calculations Riley Jim 2 July 2000 ARK 30 May 2023 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.id1 Note 1 none Within unionism 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.https://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa98.htm Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 1998 ARK 30 May 2023 The DUP managed to finish just 3.24% behind the UUP, which was considered a significant success. Of the smaller unionist parties the UK Unionist Party managed to win five seats, and the Progressive Unionist Party two seats. This was an improvement for the UKU compared to the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum election, whilst the PUP retained its two seats. The Ulster Democratic Party however 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 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 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. The NI Women's Coalition had a successful night, winning two seats. This would be the only Assembly election in which the party would win any seats.https://www.britannica.com/topic/Northern-Ireland-Womens-Coalition Northern Ireland Women's Coalition O'Rourke Catherine Encyclopedia Britannica 30 May 2023 Results summary thumb|Result by constituencies right|thumb|The result was (first preference votes only):http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa98.htm Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 1998 12 December 2017 14 May 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20110514205053/http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa98.htm live File:Northern Irish general election 1998.svg Social Democratic and Labour Party 177963 +0.6 24 +3 Ulster Unionist Party 172225 -2.9 28 -2 Democratic Unionist Party 145917 -0.8 20 -4 Sinn Féin 142858 +2.2 18 +1 Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 52636 0.0 6 -1 UK Unionist Party 36541 +0.8 5 +2 Independent Unionist 24339 N/A 3 +3 Progressive Unionist Party 20634 -1.0 2 Northern Ireland Women's Coalition 13019 +0.6 2 Ulster Democratic Party 8651 -1.1 -2 Labour Party of Northern Ireland 2729 New Workers' Party (Ireland) 1989 -0.3 Northern Ireland Conservatives 1835 -0.3 Ulster Independence Movement 1227 -0.4 Natural Law Party 832 0.0 Socialist Party 789 New Green Party of Northern Ireland 710 -0.4 Independent 5392 N/A 13248 1178556 The seat and vote change in the table are in comparison to the 1996 Northern Ireland Forum elections. id1 Note 1 none Only the independent unionist candidates who got elected are shown in the vote totals 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 1997 United Kingdom general election under the first-past-the-post voting method. A number highlighted in bold indicates 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 SinnFéin UKU UUP Ind. Independent Democratic Unionist PartyNorth Antrim6-3--1--2- Ulster Unionist Party UUP East Antrim611--1-12- Ulster Unionist Party UUP South Antrim611--1-12- Ulster Unionist Party UUP Belfast North6-1-111-11 Sinn FéinBelfast West6----24--- Ulster Unionist Party UUPBelfast South6-11-2--2- Democratic Unionist PartyBelfast East612-1---2- UK Unionist PartyNorth Down61-1---13- Ulster Unionist Party UUPStrangford612----12- Ulster Unionist Party UUP Lagan Valley611--1-12- Ulster Unionist Party UUP Upper Bann6-1--11-21 Social Democratic and Labour Party South Down6-1--31-1- Social Democratic and Labour Party Newry and Armagh6-1--22-1- Ulster Unionist Party UUP Fermanagh & South Tyrone6-1--12-2- Ulster Unionist Party UUP West Tyrone6-1--22-1- Sinn Féin Mid Ulster6-1--13-1- Social Democratic and Labour Party Foyle6-1--32--- Ulster Unionist Party UUP East Londonderry6-1--2--21 ZZA Total1086202224185283 See also 1st Northern Ireland Assembly References Manifestos 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 Category:1998 elections in the United Kingdom 1998 Category:June 1998 in the United Kingdom Category:1998 elections in Northern Ireland