Belfast North (Assembly constituency)

Belfast North
Borough Constituency for the Northern Ireland Assembly
Belfast North shown within Northern Ireland
Districts	Belfast City Council, Newtownabbey
Current constituency
Created	1973
Assembly Members	Paula Bradley (DUP) Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin) William Humphrey (DUP) Gerry Kelly (Sinn Féin) Alban Maginness (SDLP) Nelson McCausland (DUP)

Belfast North 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 North UK Parliament constituency, however the boundaries of the two constituencies were slightly different from 1973 to 1974, 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 to 1995 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 North (UK Parliament constituency).

Members

Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)

In 1973, elections were held to the Assembly set up under the Sunningdale Agreement. The six members elected from North Belfast were:

Election	MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)
1973		Gerry Fitt (SDLP)		Lloyd Hall-Thompson (UUP)		William Morgan (UUP)		Frank Millar (UUP)		John McQuade (DUP)		John Ferguson (Alliance Party)
			Pro-Sunningdale				Anti-Sunningdale

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.

Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (1975)

In 1975, elections were held to a Constitutional Convention which sought (unsuccessfully) to generate a consensus on the future of the province. The six members elected from North Belfast were:

Election	Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)
1975		Gerry Fitt (SDLP)		Billy Bell (UUP)		William Morgan (UUP)		Frank Millar (Independent Unionist)		William Annon (DUP)		Lloyd Hall-Thompson (Unionist Party NI)

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.

Northern Ireland Assembly (1982)

In 1982, elections were held for an Assembly for Northern Ireland to hold the Secretary of State to account, in the hope that this would be the first step towards restoring devolution. North Belfast elected 5 members as follows:

Election	MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)
1982		John Carson (UUP)		George Seawright (DUP)		Paschal O'Hare (SDLP)		Paul Maguire (Alliance Party)		Frank Millar (Independent Unionist)

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.

Northern Ireland Forum (1996)

In the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from North Belfast. They were as follows:

Election	Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)		Name (Party)
1996		Nigel Dodds (DUP)		William Snoddy (DUP)		Gerry Kelly (Sinn Féin)		Alban Maginness (SDLP)		David Browne (UUP)

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.

Northern Ireland Assembly (1998–present)

Election	MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)		MLA (Party)
1998		Nigel Dodds (DUP)		Alban Maginness (SDLP)		Gerry Kelly (Sinn Féin)		Billy Hutchinson (PUP)		Fraser Agnew (Independent Unionist)		Fred Cobain (UUP)
2003								Kathy Stanton (Sinn Féin)		Nelson McCausland (DUP)
2007								Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin)
September 2010 co-option		William Humphrey (DUP)
2011												Paula Bradley (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

2016

2016 Assembly election: Belfast North – 6 Seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1
	UKIP	Ken Boyle[1]
	DUP	Paula Bradley
	Independent	Tom Burns
	UUP	Lesley Carroll
	Independent	Geoff Dowey
	People Before Profit	Fiona Ferguson
	Independent	Fra Hughes
	DUP	William Humphrey
	PUP	Billy Hutchinson
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Kelly
	SDLP	Nichola Mallon
	Alliance	Nuala McAllister
	DUP	Nelson McCausland
	TUV	John Miller
	Sinn Féin	Carál Ní Chuilín
	Green (NI)	Malachai O'Hara
	NI Labour	Abdo Thabeth
	Workers' Party	Gemma Weir

2011

2011 Assembly election: Belfast North – 6 Seats[2]
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Kelly	19.9%	6,674
	DUP	Nelson McCausland	15.5%	5,200
	SDLP	Alban Maginness	12.0%	4,025	4,262	4,357	4,360	4,563	5,004
	Sinn Féin	Carál Ní Chuilín	9.0%	2,999	3,939	3,976	3,976	4,061	4,868
	DUP	William Humphrey	11.1%	3,724	3,725	3,734	3,999	4,159	4,166	4,332
	DUP	Paula Bradley	10.4%	3,488	3,494	3,501	3,592	3,729	3,735	4,065
	UUP	Fred Cobain	8.2%	2,758	2,761	2,767	2,804	2,991	2,994	3,623
	Alliance	Billy Webb	6.3%	2,096	2,113	2,168	2,173	2,396	2,458
	Sinn Féin	J. J. Magee	3.0%	998	1,571	1,611	1,611	1,673
	Independent	Raymond McCord	3.5%	1,176	1,206	1,269	1,280
	Workers' Party	John Lavery	1.0%	332	363
Electorate: 68,119   Valid: 33,470   Spoilt: 810 (2.36%)   Quota: 4,782   Turnout: 34,257 (50.29%)

2007

2007 Assembly election: Belfast North – 6 Seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10
	DUP	Nigel Dodds	23.5%	6,973
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Kelly	18.2%	5,414
	Sinn Féin	Carál Ní Chuilín	12.4%	3,680	3,680	4,587
	SDLP	Alban Maginness	7.4%	2,212	2,223	2,341	2,482	2,530	2,531	2,806	3,099	4,830
	UUP	Fred Cobain	8.4%	2,498	2,767	2,768	2,770	2,778	2,889	3,079	3,415	3,574	3,967
	DUP	Nelson McCausland	8.3%	2,462	3,412	3,413	3,413	3,414	3,516	3,560	3,764	3,783	3,818
	DUP	William Humphrey	5.6%	1,673	2,996	2,997	2,997	2,999	3,086	3,124	3,287	3,304	3,327
	SDLP	Pat Convery	6.3%	1,868	1,873	1,929	2,011	2,029	2,031	2,267	2,485
	Independent	Raymond McCord	4.4%	1,320	1,388	1,411	1,462	1,488	1,539	1,745
	Green (NI)	Peter Emerson	2.0%	590	606	615	643	702	721
	Alliance	Thomas McCullough	1.6%	486	494	497	500	512	525
	UKIP	Robert McCartney	1.2%	360	414	414	414	416
	Workers' Party	John Lavery	0.5%	139	141	152	158
	Make Politicians History	Rainbow George	0.1%	40	41	42	44
Electorate: 49,372   Valid: 29,715   Spoilt: 352 (1.17%)   Quota: 4,246   Turnout: 60.90%

2003

2003 Assembly election: Belfast North – 6 Seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11	Count 12
	DUP	Nigel Dodds	29.1%	9,276
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Kelly	17.5%	5,524
	DUP	Nelson McCausland	4.8%	1,500	5,101
	UUP	Fred Cobain	9.4%	2,961	3,339	3,339	3,509	3,515	3,539	3,608	3,696	3,902	4,556
	SDLP	Alban Maginness	10.1%	3,186	3,199	3,311	3,313	3,324	3,350	3,366	3,437	3,444	3,667	3,675	5,569
	Sinn Féin	Kathy Stanton	9.5%	2,990	2,990	3,804	3,804	3,813	3,833	3,838	3,842	3,842	3,895	3,896	4,118
	PUP	Billy Hutchinson	4.3%	1,358	1,687	1,688	1,811	1,819	1,836	1,874	1,888	2,087	2,492	2,526	2,605
	SDLP	Pat Convery	6.7%	2,108	2,114	2,159	2,161	2,184	2,213	2,228	2,273	2,279	2,480	2,487
	Independent Unionist	Fraser Agnew	2.5%	802	1,000	1,000	1,157	1,158	1,168	1,218	1,235	1,335
	NI Women's Coalition	Elizabeth McCullough	1.5%	467	478	482	486	498	573	586	694	702
	Independent	Frank McCoubrey	1.5%	469	552	552	619	619	621	677	683
	Alliance	Marjorie Hawkins	1.0%	305	314	315	318	326	370	383
	Independent	Raymond McCord	0.7%	218	285	287	325	330	341
	Green (NI)	Peter Emerson	0.8%	261	269	272	278	299
	Workers' Party	Marcella Delaney	0.3%	90	91	91	92
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	John Gallagher	0.1%	17	20	20	20
Electorate: 51,353   Valid: 31,532   Spoilt: 465 (1.45%)   Quota: 4,505   Turnout: 62.31%

1998

1998 Assembly election: Belfast North – 6 Seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11
	DUP	Nigel Dodds	18.2%	7,476
	SDLP	Alban Maginness	15.1%	6,196
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Kelly	13.6%	5,610	5,610	5,641	5,710	5,710	5,710	5,719	5,725	5,731	8,793
	PUP	Billy Hutchinson	9.1%	3,751	3,832	3,835	3,942	4,013	4,400	4,639	4,928	5,465	5,478	5,517
	UUP	Fred Cobain	5.9%	2,415	2,474	2,475	2,509	2,583	2,691	2,863	4,534	5,111	5,111	5,514
	Independent Unionist	Fraser Agnew	7.2%	2,976	3,071	3,072	3,102	3,289	3,371	3,529	3,847	4,964	4,965	4,971
	SDLP	Martin Morgan	6.0%	2,465	2,465	2,713	2,897	2,898	2,900	3,316	3,340	3,352	3,440	4,682
	Sinn Féin	Martina McIlkenny	7.7%	3,165	3,165	3,172	3,198	3,198	3,198	3,209	3,210	3,210
	DUP	Eric Smyth	3.1%	1,288	2,382	2,382	2,410	2,853	3,053	3,082	3,185
	UUP	David Browne	5.0%	2,064	2,112	2,112	2,155	2,197	2,283	2,552
	Alliance	Glyn Roberts	3.1%	1,267	1,273	1,281	1,444	1,456	1,473
	Ulster Democratic	John White	2.2%	911	943	943	957	974
	UKIP	Stephen Cooper	1.8%	748	877	877	900
	Green (NI)	Peter Emerson	0.6%	257	260	262
	Labour Party NI	Sam McAughtry	0.6%	255	257	262
	Workers' Party	Stephen Doran	0.4%	155	156	158
	Natural Law	Kevin Blair	0.2%	76	78	79
	Independent	Dolores Quinn	0.1%	50	50	51
Electorate: 62,541   Valid: 41,125   Spoilt: 941 (2.24%)   Quota: 5,876   Turnout: 67.26%

1996 Forum

Successful candidates are shown in bold.^[3]

Party		Candidate(s)	Votes	Percentage
	DUP	Nigel Dodds William Snoddy David Smylie William Henry De Courcy	7,778	19.2
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Kelly Joe Austin Christine Beattie Bobby Lavery Eoghan McCormain	7,681	19.0
	SDLP	Alban Maginness Martin Morgan Geraldine Leonard Shelagh McGlade Peter Coll	7,493	18.5
	UUP	David Browne Fred Cobain Nelson McCausland Dennis Robinson	6,938	17.2
	PUP	Billy Hutchinson Michael Acheson Robert Gourley	3,777	9.3
	Ulster Democratic	John White^* Thomas English Thomasena Livingstone Patrick Bird John English	1,874	4.6
	Alliance	Nicholas Whyte Tommy Frazer Lindsay Whitcroft	1,670	4.1
	UK Unionist	Derek Peters Amy Corry	1,329	3.3
	Labour coalition	Mark Langhammer Marion Morrison Kevin Lawrence Martin Stroud John Simpson	571	1.4
	NI Women's Coalition	Brenda Callaghan Lynda Walker Eileen Calder Roisin O'Hagan Freda Brown	486	1.2
	Workers' Party	Margaret Smith Paul Treanor	274	0.7
	Green (NI)	Peter Emerson Rosemary Warren	265	0.7
	Democratic Left	Seamus Lynch John McLaughlin	123	0.4
	Independent Voice	Andrew Thompson Sarah Thompson	63	0.2
	Ulster Independence	Norman McClelland David Kerr	41	0.1
	Independent McMullan	Wesley Holmes Helen Craig Stanley Simons	25	0.1
	Independent Chambers	Joe Coggle Sally Irvine	21	0.1

^*John White was elected as one of the 20 top-up candidates for Northern Ireland.

1982 Northern Ireland Assembly

1982 Assembly election: Belfast North – 5 Seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10	Count 11	Count 12	Count 13	Count 14
	UUP	John Carson	21.8%	7,798
	DUP	George Seawright	13.8%	4,929	5,012	5,026	5,026	5,044	5,076	5,151	5,360	5,673	5,675	6,119
	Independent Unionist	Frank Millar	5.7%	2,047	2,285	2,320	2,320	2,341	2,411	2,539	2,813	3,056	3,060	4,101	4,183	6,323
	SDLP	Paschal O'Hare	8.9%	3,190	3,191	3,191	3,255	3,291	3,291	3,295	3,296	3,296	4,198	4,202	5,031	5,141	5,079
	Alliance	Paul Maguire	7.1%	2,527	2,565	2,569	2,582	2,693	2,699	2,877	2,906	2,936	3,205	3,421	4,326	4,477	4,757
	Sinn Féin	Joe Austin	11.3%	4,029	4,029	4,029	4,088	4,102	4,102	4,108	4,108	4,114	4,189	4,189	4,557	4,564	4,573
	DUP	William Gaunt	7.3%	2,618	2,731	2,752	2,752	2,764	2,802	2,855	3,023	3,259	3,261	3,647	3,689
	Workers' Party	Seamus Lynch	7.0%	2,516	2,526	2,531	2,556	2,635	2,642	2,707	2,718	2,758	2,928	2,962
	UUP	Peter Smith	2.8%	984	1,955	1,966	1,967	1,987	2,324	2,413	2,636	2,745	2,745
	SDLP	Alban Maginness	3.7%	1,333	1,334	1,335	1,450	1,474	1,474	1,479	1,480	1,483
	Ulster Democratic	Sammy Doyle	2.5%	890	939	1,023	1,024	1,030	1,042	1,135	1,187
	UUUP	Nelson McCausland	2.4%	858	923	941	941	948	956	1,014
	Independent	Billy Boyd	2.1%	745	778	782	783	823	824
	UUP	Raymond Trimble	1.0%	369	509	518	519	522
	Ecology	Peter Emerson	1.2%	412	423	425	425
	People's Democracy	Fergus O'Hare	0.8%	298	298	298
	Ulster Democratic	Bill Lavery	0.5%	196	215
Electorate: 62,391   Valid: 35,739   Spoilt: 941 (3.16%)   Quota: 5,957   Turnout: 59.15%

1975 Constitutional Convention

1975 Constitutional Convention: Belfast North - 6 seats
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3	Count 4	Count 5	Count 6	Count 7	Count 8	Count 9	Count 10
	SDLP	Gerry Fitt	14.8%	6,454
	UUP	Billy Bell	14.4%	6,268
	Independent Unionist	Frank Millar	13.0%	5,687	5,687	5,687	5,692	5,683	5,944	6,634
	UUP	William Morgan	12.7%	5,558	5,558	5,558	5,570	5,667	5,758	6,223	6,427
	Unionist Party NI	Lloyd Hall-Thompson	8.2%	3,577	3,578	3,578	3,602	3,619	3,666	3,742	3,761	4,223	5,870
	DUP	William Annon	9.5%	4,132	4,132	4,132	4,138	4,219	4,271	4,972	5,127	5,603	5,800
	SDLP	Thomas Donnelly	8.2%	3,596	3,772	3,772	3,794	3,794	4,108	4,111	4,112	4,213	5,124
	Alliance	John Ferguson	5.1%	2,207	2,214	2,214	2,604	2,611	2,685	2,706	2,710	3,624
	NI Labour	Billy Boyd	4.0%	1,749	1,750	1,750	1,776	1,787	2,360	2,424	2,441
	Vanguard	Bill Lavery	4.3%	1,884	1,884	1,884	1,889	1,988	2,057
	NI Labour	John Stewart	2.1%	898	899	899	925	948
	Republican Clubs	Seamus Lynch	1.3%	556	560	560	561	565
	Independent Unionist	Noel Trimble	1.2%	525	525	525	526
	Alliance	James Robinson	1.2%	518	519	519
Electorate: 70,673   Valid: 43,609   Spoilt: 1.130 (2.53%)   Quota: 6,230   Turnout: 63.30%

1973

Party		Candidate	1st Pref	Result	Count
	SDLP	Gerry Fitt	8,264	Elected
	UUP	Lloyd Hall-Thompson	5,694	Elected
	UUP	William Morgan	5,190	Elected
	DUP	John McQuade	5,148	Elected
	UUP	Cecil Walker	4,354	Not elected
	UUP	Frank Millar	4,187	Elected
	UUP	Wilson Gamble	4,161	Not elected
	DUP	Fred Proctor	2,112	Not elected
	Alliance	John Ferguson	1,958	Elected
	SDLP	Thomas Donnelly	1,861	Not elected
	Vanguard	William Baillie	1,859	Not elected
	NI Labour	Vivian Simpson	1,742	Not elected
	Republican Clubs	Seamus Lynch	854	Not elected
	Vanguard	Billy Hull	852	Not elected
	Alliance	Jack Smith	742	Not elected
	Alliance	Keith Jones	675	Not elected
	NI Labour	John Stewart	571	Not elected
	Independent Unionist	Tommy Lyttle	560	Not elected

References

2. North Belfast, UTV
3. 1996 Candidates – North Belfast, Northern Ireland Elections

Coordinates: 54°38′24″N 5°57′09″W / 54.64000°N 5.95250°W