Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007

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Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007 All 108 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly
7 March 2007
		Government	Opposition
Leader		Ian Paisley	Gerry Adams
Party		Democratic Unionist	Sinn Féin
Leader's seat		North Antrim	Belfast West
Last election		30 seats, 27.8%	24 seats, 22.2%
Seats won		36	28
Seat change		+6	+4
Popular vote		207,721	180,573
Percentage		30.1%	26.2%
Incumbent First Minister Suspended First Minister-Elect Ian Paisley Democratic Unionist

Northern Ireland
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Assembly MLA Committees List of Acts Members: 2007 - 2003 - 1998 Elections: 2007 - 2003 - 1998 Northern Ireland Executive First Minister and deputy First Minister Departments Executives: First - Suspended - Second Northern Ireland Policing Board Parades Commission
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom Parliament Committees: Affairs - Grand Members: Commons - Lords - Privy Council Elections: 2005 United Kingdom Government Northern Ireland Office Secretary of State • Direct Rule
In the European Union
European Union Parliament MEP Members: 2004 - 1999 Elections: 2004 - 1999
Related political parties
Designated Unionist Democratic Unionist Party Ulster Unionist Party Progressive Unionist Party Conservatives Traditional Unionist Voice Designated Nationalist Sinn Féin Social Democratic and Labour Party Fianna Fáil Designated Other Alliance Party Green Party
Related bodies
North/South Ministerial Council British-Irish Council British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference Civic Forum for Northern Ireland
See also
St Andrews Agreement (2006) Belfast Agreement (1998) Segregation in Northern Ireland Elections in Northern Ireland Constituencies Political parties
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The third elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly were held on 7 March 2007 when 108 new members were selected. 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).

Contents 1 Background 2 The process 3 The campaign 4 The results 5 Executive committee seats 6 Opinion polls 7 MLAs who lost their seats at the election 8 MLAs who stood down at the election 9 MLAs deselected by their party 10 MLAs deceased since 2007 election 11 MLAs deceased since 2003 election 12 See also 13 References 14 External links

[edit] Background

At the 2003 election the DUP and Sinn Féin became the largest parties so 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 and Sinn Féin made the St Andrews Agreement and a new transitional assembly came into effect on 24 November 2006.^[2] The Government agreed to fresh elections and the transitional assembly was dissolved on 30 January 2007, after which campaigning began.^[3]

[edit] 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 will be chosen by the largest parties from the two different political designations. Parties who win seats are then be allocated places on the executive committee in proportion to their seats in the Assembly using the D'Hondt method.

[edit] 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]

[edit] The results

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 four-fold 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]

(in order of first preference vote)

	Party	Leader	Candidates	Seats	Change from 2003	1st Pref Votes	1st Pref %	Change from 2003	Executive seats
	Democratic Unionist	Ian Paisley	46	36	+6	207,721	30.1	+4.4	5[1]
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	37	28	+4	180,573	26.2	+2.6	4[2]
	Social Democratic and Labour	Mark Durkan	35	16	−2	105,164	15.2	−1.8	1
	Ulster Unionist	Reg Empey	38	18	−9	103,145	14.9	−7.7	2
	Alliance	David Ford	18	7	+1	36,139	5.2	+1.5	—
	Independent	N/A	20	1	±0	19,471	2.8	+1.9	—
	Green Party	John Barry[10]	13	1	+1	11,985	1.7	+1.3	—
	UK Unionist	Bob McCartney	13	0	−1	10,452	1.5	+0.7	—
	Progressive Unionist	Dawn Purvis	3	1	±0	3,822	0.6	−0.6	—
	Conservative	David Cameron	9	0	—	3,457	0.5	+0.3	—
	Republican Sinn Féin†	Ruairí Ó Brádaigh	6	0	—	2,522	0.4	N/A	—
	Socialist Environmental	Goretti Horgan[11]	1	0	—	2,045	0.3	−0.1	—
	UK Independence	Nigel Farage	1	0	—	1,229	0.2	N/A	—
	Workers' Party	John Lowry[12]	6	0	—	975	0.1	−0.1	—
	People Before Profit	Gordon Hewitt	1	0	—	774	0.1	N/A	—
	Socialist Party	Peter Hadden[13]	2	0	—	473	0.1	+0.1	—
	Make Politicians History	Ronnie Carroll	4	0	—	221	0.0	N/A	—
	Labour (NI)	Malachi Curran	1	0	—	123	0.0	N/A	—
	Procapitalism	Samuel Charles Smyth	1	0	—	22	0.0	N/A	—

Notes:

• Total valid poll 661,191
• Party leaders listed are those who were registered with the Electoral Commission as of 07:00 on 7 March 2007.

^†The six candidates of Republican Sinn Féin, which did not register as a political party with the Electoral Commission, are included in some media reports as Independents. They themselves rejected this term, and, apart from one of its candidates who was described as an Independent, no description was used for its candidates on ballot papers.^[14]

^  Includes post of First Minister

^  Includes post of Deputy First Minister

[edit] 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 lagest party gets the right to nominate the first minister and the largest party perceived to be from "the other side" nominiates 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 current executive which was appointed in 2007 is

Department		Minister	Party
First Minister		Ian Paisley[15]	Democratic Unionist
Deputy First Minister		Martin McGuinness[15]	Sinn Féin
Enterprise, Trade and Investment		Nigel Dodds	Democratic Unionist
Finance & Personnel		Peter Robinson	Democratic Unionist
Regional Development		Conor Murphy[16]	Sinn Féin
Education		Caitríona Ruane[16]	Sinn Féin
Employment and Learning		Sir Reg Empey	Ulster Unionist
Environment		Arlene Foster	Democratic Unionist
Culture, Arts & Leisure		Edwin Poots	Democratic Unionist
Health, Social Services & Public Safety		Michael McGimpsey	Ulster Unionist
Agriculture		Michelle Gildernew[16]	Sinn Féin
Social Development		Margaret Ritchie[16]	Social Democratic and Labour

There are two juniour ministers in OFMDFM who are, at present, Jeffery Donaldson (DUP) and Gerry Kelly (SF).

[edit] 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 as:^[17]

Party		Percentage
	Democratic Unionist	25
	Sinn Féin	22
	Social Democratic and Labour	20
	Ulster Unionist	16
	Alliance	9
	Green Party	3
	Conservative	1
	UK Unionist	1
	Progressive Unionist	1
	Independent	1

[edit] MLAs who lost their seats at the election

• Michael Copeland (UUP, Belfast East)
• Esmond Birnie (UUP, Belfast South)
• Diane Dodds (DUP, Belfast West)
• Norman Hillis (UUP, East Londonderry)
• Marietta Farrell (SDLP, Lagan Valley)
• Billy Bell (UUP,Lagan Valley)
• Paul Berry (Ind, Newry and Armagh)
• Davy Hyland (Ind, Newry and Armagh)
• Robert McCartney (UKUP, North Down)
• George Ennis (UKUP, Strangford)
• Eugene McMenamin (SDLP, West Tyrone)
• Derek Hussey (UUP,West Tyrone)

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

[edit] MLAs who stood down at the election

• Eileen Bell (Alliance/Speaker, North Down)^[18]
• Seamus Close (Alliance, Lagan Valley)^[19]
• Geraldine Dougan (Sinn Féin, Mid Ulster)^[20]
• Sean Farren (SDLP, North Antrim)^[21]
• Patricia Lewsley^† (SDLP, Lagan Valley)^[22]
• Philip McGuigan (Sinn Féin, North Antrim)^[23]
• Dermot Nesbitt (UUP, South Down)^[24]
• Tom O'Reilly (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)^[25]
• Kathy Stanton (Sinn Féin, North Belfast)
• Lord Kilclooney (UUP)^[26]
• Lord Trimble (UUP, Upper Bann)^[27]
• Jim Wilson (UUP, South Antrim)^[28]

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

[edit] MLAs deselected by their party

• Wilson Clyde (DUP, South Antrim)
• George Ennis (DUP, Strangford)^[29]
• Paul Girvan (DUP, South Antrim)^[30]
• Davy Hyland (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)^[31]
• Patricia O'Rawe (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)^[32]
• Norah Beare^↑ (DUP, Lagan Valley)
• Mark Robinson (DUP, Belfast South)

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

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

[edit] MLAs deceased since 2007 election

• George Dawson (DUP, East Antrim)

[edit] MLAs deceased since 2003 election

• David Ervine (PUP, Belfast East)^[33]
• Michael Ferguson (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)^[34]

[edit] See also

• Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2007
• Irish general election, 2007
• Scottish Parliament election, 2007
• Welsh Assembly election, 2007

v • d • e Assembly constituencies in Northern Ireland Belfast East • Belfast North • Belfast South • Belfast West • East Antrim • East Londonderry • Fermanagh and South Tyrone • Foyle • Lagan Valley • Mid Ulster • Newry and Armagh • North Antrim • North Down • South Antrim • South Down • Strangford • Upper Bann • West Tyrone

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• RTÉ News - Northern Ireland 2007 elections
• BBC Guide to the elections
• Electoral Commission guide to election
• Candidates Statements (nominators/addresses etc.)

v • d • e  Northern Irish elections 1921 · 1925 · 1929 · 1933 · 1938 · 1945 · 1949 · 1953 · 1958 · 1962 · 1965 · 1969 · 1973 · 1975 · 1982 · 1996 · 1998 · 2003 · 2007  Northern Irish referendums 1973 · 1998