Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2016

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2016
5 May 2016
All 108 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly
 
Leader Arlene Foster Gerry Adams Mike Nesbitt
Party DUP Sinn Féin UUP
Leader since 17 December 2015 13 November 1983 31 March 2012
Leader's seat Fermanagh and South Tyrone N/A Strangford
Last election 38 seats, 29.3% 29 seats, 26.3% 16 seats, 12.9%
Current seats 38 29 13
 
Leader Colum Eastwood David Ford Steven Agnew
Party SDLP Alliance Green (NI)
Leader since 14 November 2015 6 October 2001 10 January 2011
Leader's seat Foyle South Antrim North Down
Last election 14 seats, 13.9% 8 seats, 7.7% 1 seat, 0.9%
Current seats 14 8 1
 
Leader None Jim Allister David McNarry[n 1]
Party People Before Profit TUV UKIP
Leader since N/A 7 December 2007 2013
Leader's seat N/A North Antrim N/A
Last election 0 seats, 0.8% 1 seat, 2.5% 0 seats, 0.4%
Current seats 0 1 1
Incumbent First Minister and deputy First Minister

Arlene Foster, Martin McGuinness
Democratic Unionist Party, Sinn Féin

The 2016 election to the Northern Ireland Assembly was held on 5 May 2016.

Change of date

Under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, elections to the NI assembly were originally for a four-year term; thus there would have been an election due in May 2015, four years after the 2011 election. Following the introduction of the UK Fixed Term Parliaments Act, this date would have clashed with the 2015 UK General Election.[1] The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly elections were postponed for a year to 2016 to avoid this clash.[2]

In May 2013, Theresa Villiers, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced the next NI assembly election would be postponed to May 2016, and would be held at fixed intervals of 5 years thereafter.[3] Section 7 of the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 specifies that elections will be held on the first Thursday in May on the fifth (rather than fourth, as previously) calendar year following that in which its predecessor was elected.[4]

End of dual mandate

The Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 also ends the practice of dual mandate, prohibiting someone being elected to the assembly who is also a member of the House of Commons or Dáil Éireann.[4] At the time the Act was passed, there were three such dual-members: the DUP's Sammy Wilson (MP for East Antrim and MLA for East Antrim) and Gregory Campbell (MP for East Londonderry and MLA for East Londonderry) and the SDLP's Alasdair McDonnell (MP for Belfast South and MLA for Belfast South).[5] Wilson and McDonnell resigned from the Assembly after being re-elected to the House of Commons in the 2015 election. Campbell, who was also re-elected as an MP, is retiring from the Assembly at this election.[6]

Earlier dissolution

There are several circumstances in which the Assembly could be dissolved before the date scheduled by virtue of section 31(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

Dissolution motion

Under section 32 of the 1998 Act, the Assembly can be dissolved if a resolution to such an effect is passed by the Assembly, with support of 72 or more members.

Failure to elect the First or deputy First Ministers

The Act provides that if the Assembly fails to elect either the First Minister or deputy First Minister within six weeks, an election is called. Since the enactment of the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006, the First Minister has been nominated by the largest party overall, and the deputy First Minister has been nominated by the single largest party in the largest community designation ("Nationalist", "Unionist" or "Other") to which the largest party overall does not belong.

New Executive Departments

It is proposed[7] that after the May 2016 Election there be a reduction in the number of ministries and departments. The amendments are:

Seat distribution

Party Designation[8] Seats won (2011) Current seats
Democratic Unionist Party Unionist 38 33
Sinn Féin Nationalist 29 19
Ulster Unionist Party Unionist 16 11
Social Democratic and Labour Party Nationalist 14 9
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Other 8 7
Independent Unionist 1 0
Green Party in Northern Ireland Other 1 2
Traditional Unionist Voice Unionist 1 1
UKIP Unionist N/A 0
NI21 Unionist N/A 0
People Before Profit Other N/A 2

Candidates

Nominations opened on 30 March 2016 for the assembly election.[9] A full list of candidates is available.[10][11]

Parties standing in more than one constituency are:

Various independents and smaller parties are also standing.

Members not seeking re-election

Alliance

DUP

NI21

SDLP

Sinn Féin

UUP

UKIP

Opinion Polling

Date(s)
conducted 		Polling organisation/client Sample size DUPSF SDLP UUP Alliance TUV Green Others
30 Mar – 1 Apr 2016Lucid Talk/Belfast Telegraph97026.5%25.8%11.9%15.6%8.1%4.1%2.6%5.4%
8–12 Feb 2016Lucid Talk/Belfast Telegraph2,88626.6%24.6%11.2%14.5%8.2%3.5%2.6%8.8%
19–21 Oct 2015Lucid Talk/Belfast Telegraph2,51725.8%25.4%10.8%15.0%7.6%3.2%2.4%9.8%
7 May 2015General Election Results 718,51225.7% 24.5%13.9%16.0%8.6%2.3%1.0%8.0%
22 May 20142014 Local Election Results 627,77723.1%24.1%13.6%16.2%6.7%4.5%0.9%10.9%
22 May 20142014 European Election Results 626,12520.9%25.5%13.0%13.3%7.1%12.1%1.7%6.3%
Sep 2013 Lucid Talk/Belfast Telegraph N/A 29.3% 26.1% 13.8% 10.8% 10.2% 2.2% 1.3% 6.3%
Jan 2013 IPSOS-MORI/BBC 1,046 24% 23% 19% 13% 10% — — 11%
5 May 2011Assembly Election Results 661,736 29.3%26.3%13.9%12.9%7.7%2.4%0.9%6.6%

Footnotes

  1. ↑ David McNarry has announced that he is not standing at the election

References

  1. ↑ "The new Northern Ireland Bill". agendaNi.
  2. ↑ Government welcomes elections agreement – Gov.uk, 3 May 2011
  3. ↑ "Northern Ireland Assembly elections put back to 2016". BBC News Online. 2013-05-10. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  4. 1 2 legislation.gov.uk Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014
  5. ↑ The new Northern Ireland Bill – Agenda NI, 2 September 2013
  6. 1 2 Gareth Gordon (3 March 2016). "Gregory Campbell to stand down as MLA ahead of double-jobbing ban". BBC News Online. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "Departments Bill 70/11-16" (PDF). Northern Ireland Assembly. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  8. ↑ "Opposition, community designation and D’Hondt".
  9. ↑ "Northern Ireland Assembly Election May 2016" (PDF). www.electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  10. ↑ http://www.eoni.org.uk/Elections/Election-results-and-statistics/Election-results-and-statistics-2003-onwards/Elections-2016/NI-Assembly-Election-2016-Statements-of-Persons-No
  11. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2016-northern-ireland-36036500
  12. ↑ "An Alliance For The Future?". Slugger O'Toole.
  13. ↑ "Anna Lo to quit NI politics over disillusionment". BBC News Online.
  14. ↑ "Alliance MLA Kieran McCarthy to stand down from Assembly". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk.
  15. ↑ "DUP man Moutray to step down from the Assembly".
  16. ↑ Clarke, Liam (19 November 2015). "DUP's Peter Robinson: I'm standing down within weeks". The Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  17. ↑ "I'm finished with politics, says Basil McCrea – bombshell announcementsounds death knell for NI21". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk.
  18. ↑ "SDLP’s Dominic Bradley to retire as MLA next year". UTV. 19 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "Race for Dallat’s east Derry seat".
  20. ↑ "SDLP's Alban Maginness: I will not contest assembly election in May". BBC News Online.
  21. ↑ "Phil Flanagan fails Sinn Féin reselection test". The Irish News.
  22. ↑ "Speaker Mitchel McLaughlin to stand down from Assembly". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk.
  23. ↑ "Veteran independent councillor Alan Chambers joins UUP". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk.
  24. ↑ "Sam Gardiner misses out on UUP selection for Assembly election".
  25. ↑ "Michael McGimpsey to stand down from Northern Ireland Assembly". BBC News Online.
  26. ↑ "#EURef Leave campaigns at the UKIP Northern Ireland conference #UKIPNI15". Slugger O'Toole.
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