2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election

The 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Wednesday, 7 March 2007. It was the third election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. The election saw endorsement of the St Andrews Agreement and the two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin, along with the Alliance Party, increase their support, with falls in support for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

This article is about the assembly election in Northern Ireland. For the general election in the Republic of Ireland, see 2007 Irish general election.

2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election
7 March 2007
All 108 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly
Turnout62.3% Decrease 0.7%
  First party Second party Third party
 
DrIanPaisley.jpg
Gerry Adams, October 2005 (cropped).jpg
Official portrait of Lord Empey crop 2.jpg
Leader Ian Paisley Gerry Adams Reg Empey
Party DUP Sinn Féin Ulster Unionist
Leader since 30 September 1971 13 November 1983 24 June 2005
Leader's seat North Antrim Belfast West Belfast East
Last election 30 seats, 27.8% 24 seats, 23.5% 27 seats, 22.7%
Seats won 36 28 18
Seat change Increase6 Increase4 Decrease9
Popular vote 207,721 180,573 103,145
Percentage 30.1% 26.2% 14.9%
Swing Increase4.4% Increase2.7% Decrease7.8%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
MarkDurkan.jpg
DavidFordAlliance.jpg
John_Barry_GPNI.JPG
Leader Mark Durkan David Ford John Barry
Party SDLP Alliance Green (NI)
Leader since 10 November 2001 6 October 2001 January 2003
Leader's seat Foyle South Antrim None
Last election 18 seats, 16.7% 6 seats, 3.7% 0 seat, 0.4%
Seats won 16 7 1
Seat change Decrease2 Increase1 Increase1
Popular vote 105,164 36,139 11,985
Percentage 15.2% 5.2% 1.7%
Swing Decrease1.8% Increase1.5% Increase1.3%
  Seventh party
 
PUP
Leader Dawn Purvis
Party PUP
Leader since 2007
Leader's seat Belfast East
Last election 1 seat, 1.2%
Seats won 1
Seat change Steady
Popular vote 3,822
Percentage 0.6%
Swing Decrease0.6%
Election results. Voters elect 6 assembly members from the 18 constituencies.
First Minister before election

Suspended

 First Minister after election

Ian Paisley
DUP

This article is part of a series within the
Politics of the United Kingdom on the
Politics of Northern Ireland
Executive

 a Lowercase "d" per here.
Assembly
Law
Northern Ireland in the UK
Local government

The 2007 election was held using STV and 18 multi-seat districts, each electing 6 members.

Background

At the 2003 election the DUP became the largest party. As it opposed the Belfast Agreement, there was no prospect of the assembly voting for the First and deputy First Ministers. Therefore, the British Government did not restore power to the Assembly and the elected members never met. Instead there commenced a protracted series of negotiations. During these negotiations a legally separate assembly, known as The Assembly consisting of the members elected in 2003 was formed in May 2006[1] to enable the parties to negotiate and to prepare for government.

Eventually, in October 2006, the governments and the parties, including the DUP, made the St Andrews Agreement and a new transitional assembly came into effect on 24 November 2006.[2] The British government agreed to fresh elections and the transitional assembly was dissolved on 30 January 2007, after which campaigning began.[3]

The process

The election was conducted using the single transferable vote applied to six-seat constituencies, each of which corresponds to a UK parliamentary seat. The First Minister and Deputy First Minister were chosen by the largest parties from the two different political designations. Parties who won seats were then allocated places on the executive committee in proportion to their seats in the Assembly using the D'Hondt method.

The campaign

The major parties standing were the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) on the Unionist side, and Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) on the Nationalist side.

The largest cross-community party, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, contested the election in 17 of 18 constituencies. Smaller parties also included the Progressive Unionist Party, the Green Party and the UK Unionist Party. Some independent Unionists also stood.

Among the other parties that stood, the Conservatives nominated nine and there were six candidates for the Workers' Party. Also there were four candidates for Make Politicians History and two for the Socialist Party. Six Republican Sinn Féin-aligned candidates also stood. As the party had chosen not to register as a political party with the electoral commission, the party name did not appear alongside its candidates on ballot papers.[4]

One of the key issues in the election was which two political parties would gain the largest number of Assembly seats. The St Andrews Agreement stated that the First Minister will be chosen from the largest party of the largest political designation and the Deputy First Minister from the largest party from the second largest political designation;[5] however, the actual legislation states that the largest party shall make the nomination regardless of designation.[6]

Results
Result by constituencies
(in order of first preference vote)

The DUP remained the largest party in the Assembly, making significant gains from the UUP.

Sinn Féin made gains from the SDLP and was the largest party among the Nationalists.

The only other Assembly Party to make gains was the liberal Alliance Party (winning seven seats, a gain of one), while the Progressive Unionist Party and independent health campaigner Dr Kieran Deeny retained their single seats, and were joined by the Green Party, which won its first Assembly seat, and increased its first preference votes fourfold from 2003.

The UK Unionist Party lost its representation in the Assembly. They had contested 12 seats, with Robert McCartney standing in six of them.[7]

Overall, Unionist parties were collectively down 4 seats, Nationalist parties were collectively up 2 seats, and others were up 2 seats.

The election was notable as it saw the first Chinese-born person to be elected to a parliamentary institution in Europe: Anna Lo of the Alliance Party.[8][9]

PartyVotes%+/–Seats
Assembly+/–Executive
Democratic Unionist Party207,72130.09+4.436+65
Sinn Féin180,57326.16+2.628+44
Social Democratic and Labour Party105,16415.23−1.816-21
Ulster Unionist Party103,14514.94−7.718-92
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland36,1395.24+1.57+1–
Green Party in Northern Ireland11,9851.74+1.31+1–
UK Unionist Party10,4521.51+0.7–-1–
Progressive Unionist Party3,8220.55−0.61––
Northern Ireland Conservatives3,4570.50+0.3–––
Republican Sinn Féin2,5220.37–––
Socialist Environmental Alliance2,0450.30−0.1–––
UK Independence Party1,2290.18–––
Workers' Party9750.14−0.1–––
People Before Profit Alliance7740.11–––
Socialist Party4730.07+0.1–––
Make Politicians History2210.03–––
Labour Party of Northern Ireland1230.02–––
Pro Capitalism220.00–––
Independent19,4712.82+1.91––
Total690,313100.00–108012
Registered voters/turnout1,107,90462.31

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 2005 United Kingdom general election under the first-past-the-post voting method.

Party of MP, 2005 Constituency Northern Ireland Assembly seats
Total Gained
by		 Formerly
held by
APNI DUP PUP SDLP Sinn
Féin		 Green UUP Ind.
DUP North Antrim6–3–11–1–––
DUP East Antrim613––––2–––
DUP South Antrim612–11–1– SF UUP
DUP Belfast North6–2–12 –1–––
Sinn Féin Belfast West6–––15––– SF DUP
SDLP Belfast South611–21–1– Alliance UUP
DUP Belfast East6131–––1– DUP UUP
UUP North Down612–––12– Green UKU
DUP Strangford614––––1– DUP UUP
DUP Lagan Valley 6 1 3 – – 1 – 1 – SF SDLP
DUP UUP
DUP UUP
DUP Upper Bann6–2–11–2–––
SDLP South Down6–1–22–1–––
Sinn Féin Newry and Armagh6–1–13–1–––
Sinn Féin Fermanagh & South Tyrone6–2–12–1– DUP UUP
Sinn Féin West Tyrone 6 – 2 – – 3 – – 1 SF SDLP
DUP UUP
Sinn Féin Mid Ulster6–1–13–1–––
SDLP Foyle6–1–32–––––
DUP East Londonderry6–3–11–2– DUP UUP
Total108736116281181
Change since 2003 –+ 1+ 6–– 2+ 4+ 1− 9––1 UKU–
Elected on 23 November 2003 1086301182402715 UKU2 NIWC
Elected on 25 June 1998 1086202241802835 UKU2 NIWC

Executive Committee seats

Parties who won seats are allocated places on the Executive Committee using the D'Hondt method and under the St Andrews agreement the largest party gets the right to nominate the first minister and the largest party perceived to be from "the other side" nominates the deputy first minister. Despite the name these offices are in fact of equal right. Note that they are both ministers in the same department (Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister). Using this system, the executive appointed in 2007 was as follows:

DepartmentMinisterParty
First Minister   Ian Paisley[10]DUP
Deputy First Minister   Martin McGuinness[10]Sinn Féin
Enterprise, Trade and Investment   Nigel DoddsDUP
Finance & Personnel   Peter RobinsonDUP
Regional Development   Conor Murphy[11]Sinn Féin
Education   Caitríona Ruane[11]Sinn Féin
Employment and Learning   Sir Reg EmpeyUlster Unionist
Environment   Arlene FosterDUP
Culture, Arts & Leisure   Edwin PootsDUP
Health, Social Services & Public Safety   Michael McGimpseyUlster Unionist
Agriculture   Michelle Gildernew[11]Sinn Féin
Social Development   Margaret Ritchie[11]SDLP

There are two junior ministers in OFMDFM who are, at present, Jeffery Donaldson (DUP) and Gerry Kelly (SF). In April 2010, the Department of Justice was formed, being led by David Ford from the Alliance Party. This is the Alliance Party's first ministerial role.

Opinion polls

An opinion poll by Ipsos MORI, published in The Belfast Telegraph on 1 March 2007, reported the voting intentions of those who intended to vote and had decided which party to vote for:[12]

Party Percentage Actual Vote
DUP 25 30
Sinn Féin 22 26
SDLP 20 15
Ulster Unionist 16 15
Alliance 9 5
Green (NI) 3 2
Conservative 1 0.5
UK Unionist 1 1.5
PUP 1 0.6
Independent 1 3

MLAs who lost their seats at the election

Notes: Berry and Ennis were originally elected as DUP candidates, Hyland was originally elected as a Sinn Féin candidate.

MLAs who stood down at the election

†Patricia Lewsley stood down prior to the dissolution of the assembly

MLAs deselected by their party

↑ As a sitting MLA, Norah Beare defected from the UUP to the DUP, and is therefore unselected rather than deselected.

Following their de-selection, both Ennis and Hyland unsuccessfully sought election under the UKUP and independent labels respectively.

MLAs deceased since 2003 election

See also
Wikinews has related news:

References
  1. Northern Ireland Assembly Information Office. "The Assembly – Main Page". Niassembly.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 29 December 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  2. Northern Ireland Assembly Information Office (14 March 2007). "Transitional Assembly – Main Page". Niassembly.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 17 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  3. "Date set for NI Assembly election". BBC News. 16 November 2006. Archived from the original on 18 November 2006. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  4. "Poll candidate line-up revealed". BBC News. 14 February 2007. Archived from the original on 3 March 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  5. "St Andrews Agreement 2006 Annex A". Archived from the original on 18 December 2007.: Paragraph 9 Practical changes to the operation of the institutions
  6. "Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2007. 16C(C) (page 11) ".. nominating officer of the largest political party"
  7. "Many seats raise many eyebrows". BBC News. 14 February 2007. Archived from the original on 24 February 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  8. Sharrock, David (10 March 2007). "Blair urges Paisley and Sinn Féin now take your places in history". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  9. McDonald, Henry (11 February 2007). "Chinese candidate defies racist abuse". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 3 April 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  10. "DUP and Sinn Féin in joint letter". BBC News Online. BBC. 1 April 2007. Archived from the original on 7 April 2007. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
  11. "Sinn Féin reveals ministerial jobs". BBC News Online. BBC. 4 April 2007. Archived from the original on 5 May 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2007.
  12. McAdam, Noel (1 March 2007). "Snapshot reveals the voters' mood". Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2007.
  13. "Gay row 'difficult' for Alliance". BBC News. 10 December 2005. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  14. "Endgame for Close after 33 years". BBC News. 14 November 2006. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  15. "IOL | SF MLA Dougan to step down". Breakingnews.iol.ie. 21 June 2010. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  16. "O'Loan to contest Assembly seat". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2007.
  17. "Lewsley to take up children's post/". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2007.
  18. "Sinn Féin: Philip McGuigan appointed to new role within Sinn Féin". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  19. uuptoday.org » Nesbitt to stand down from Elected Politics Archived 8 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  20. Sinn Féin: Sinn Féin MLA to concentrate on role as local Councillor Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  21. "Candidates hand in election forms". BBC News. 13 February 2007. Archived from the original on 16 February 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  22. "Welcome to the website of David Trimble MLA". Davidtrimble.org. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  23. BreakingNews.ie: Archives :2006-12-31 Archived 5 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  24. "MLA blasted by candidate over 'integrity'". Belfast Today. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  25. McDonald, Henry (21 January 2007). "DUP rebels move to stop Agreement". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  26. "Dropped MLA wants policing debate". BBC News. 19 December 2006. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  27. "Sinn Féin drops second politician". BBC News. 20 December 2006. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  28. "PUP's Ervine has died in hospital". BBC News. 8 January 2007. Archived from the original on 10 January 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  29. "Death of Sinn Féin assembly man". BBC News. 25 September 2006. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2010.

Manifestos
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