General election in Northern Ireland 1982
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Seat: | Parliament Buildings, Stormont Estate, Belfast |
| Legislative period : | 1982-1986 |
| MPs: | 78 |
| Current legislative period | |
| Chair: | James Kilfedder |
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The election for the Northern Ireland Assembly 1982 on October 20, 1982 was the second election for the Northern Ireland Assembly ("Northern Ireland Assembly"). In the election, unionist parties received a majority of the votes and seats in parliament.
background
Under the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, the Northern Ireland Assembly was formed to replace the Parliament of Northern Ireland . This first Northern Ireland Assembly was repealed a year later because radicals on both sides refused to accept it. In 1982 another attempt at devolution was started and a new assembly was used.
Suffrage
The election is based on a single transferable vote system . The definition of the constituencies in 12 rather unequal districts was highly controversial and was criticized as gerrymandering , which leads to a disadvantage for the Republican-Catholic side.
Spectrum of parties
The following table gives a rough overview of the political orientation of the largest parties. The spectrum of parties was divided fairly largely along denominational lines. Protestants were mostly associated with the unionist parties and Catholics with the republican side.
| Political party | Abbreviation | Political Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Ulster Unionist Party | UUP | conservative unionist |
| Democratic Unionist Party | DUP | radically unionist |
| Social Democratic and Labor Party | SDLP | republican-social-democratic |
| Sinn Féin | SF | political arm of the IRA , Republican |
| Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | Alliance | liberal, originally unionist |
Results
The following table shows the election results. The votes in the table correspond to the votes of first preference.
| Political party | be right | Votes in% |
Seats | Seats in% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ulster Unionist Party | 188.277 | 29.7% | 26th | 33.8% |
| Democratic Unionist Party | 145,528 | 23.0% | 21st | 27.3% |
| Social Democratic and Labor Party | 118,891 | 18.8% | 14th | 18.2% |
| Sinn Féin | 64.191 | 10.1% | 5 | 6.5% |
| Alliance Party of Northern Ireland | 58,851 | 9.3% | 10 | 13.0% |
| Workers' Party of Ireland | 17,216 | 2.7% | 0 | 0% |
| Ulster Popular Unionist Party | 14,916 | 2.3% | 1 | 1.3% |
| United Ulster Unionist Party | 11,550 | 1.8% | 0 | 0% |
| Frank Millar (Independent Unionist) | 9,567 | 1.5% | 1 | 1.3% |
| Independent SDLP | 1,180 | 0.2% | 0 | 0% |
| Independently | 745 | 0.1% | 0 | 0% |
| Ecology Party | 707 | 0.1% | 0 | 0% |
| Newtownabbey Labor Party | 560 | 0.1% | 0 | 0% |
| People's Democracy | 442 | 0.1% | 0 | 0% |
| Communist Party of Ireland | 415 | 0.1% | 0 | 0% |
| Ulster Liberal Party | 65 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| Peace | 19th | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| total | 633.120 | 100.0% | 78 | 100.0% |
Evaluation of the election result
Unionist parties won 49 of the 78 seats, Irish Republican parties (Sinn Féin and SDLP) won 19, the largely neutral Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 10 seats. The Irish Republican parties (Sinn Féin and SDLP) boycotted the new assembly , which was generally a body with little authority. It was dissolved again in 1986 due to little support from the Catholic side.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly Election. Retrieved May 20, 2017 (English).
