Election to the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly

In the election for the Northern Ireland Assembly 2011 on May 5, 2011, the Northern Ireland Assembly , the Northern Irish House of Representatives, was newly elected. Local elections were held on the same day in Northern Ireland and a referendum across the UK to change the electoral law . In the rest of the UK, the general election in Scotland and the National Assembly election for Wales took place in 2011 . The Northern Ireland election ended with slight gains in Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin seats , while the more moderate Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and SDLP lost seats. The non-denominational Alliance Party of Northern Ireland won a seat as did the Traditional Unionist Voice . The latter was represented for the first time as the new unionist party in the Northern Irish parliament.

prehistory

After the last election in 2007, the Northern Ireland Assembly remained functional for the first time throughout the legislature. In the previous legislative periods after 1998 and 2003, she was suspended prematurely due to incapacity for work due to insoluble disputes. The election campaign before the upcoming 2011 election turned out to be relatively unspectacular. The positions of the most important parties are summarized below in keywords:

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP): Strengthening the unionist idea, strengthening the economy, improving the health system and education, tightening the penalties for criminals
Sinn Féin : work for a united Ireland , implementation of an all-Irish economic plan, further decentralization ( devolution ) with transfer of rights from Westminster to Northern Ireland, alignment with the Republic of Ireland
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP): adequate funding of the welfare system, efforts to transform Northern Ireland into an attractive economic zone, streamlining of government and administration
Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP): Creation of new jobs, more investment in health, education and the environment
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland : Ending denominational segregation to build a common future, business-friendly, sustainable policies, modernizing administration, reducing bureaucracy and waste, promoting renewable energies, attracting investors with cultural and natural resources
Green Party in Northern Ireland (GPNI): Thermal insulation of 500,000 homes in Northern Ireland to create jobs, cut energy costs and reduce CO ₂ emissions, promote the feed-in of renewable energy, promote public transport
Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV): Ending the “forced coalition” of different political directions in the Northern Irish regional government, so that the government is again facing an opposition, blocking of Sinn Féin at every level of government work, creation of jobs, improvement of health care

Party leader in the Northern Ireland Assembly
Peter Robinson
(DUP)
Martin McGuinness
(Sinn Féin)
Margaret Ritchie
(SDLP)

Suffrage

The election was based on a preference voting system (single transferable vote) . Six MPs were elected in each of the 18 North Irish constituencies for Parliament in Westminster . The entire parliament thus consisted of 108 members.

Overall result

Number of parliamentary seats won in the 18 constituencies by party

6 MPs were elected in each of the 18 constituencies. The colors of the boxes represent the party affiliation.

A total of 661,753 valid votes were cast and the turnout was 54.5%.

	Seats	Seats +/-	be right	%	+/-%
Democratic Unionist Party	38	2	198,436	30.0	−0.1
Sinn Féin	29	1	178,224	26.9	+0.8
Ulster Unionist Party	16	2	87,531	13.2	−1.7
Social Democratic and Labor Party	14th	2	94.286	14.2	−1.0
Alliance Party	8th	1	50,875	7.7	+2.5
Traditional Unionist Voice	1	0	16,480	2.5	0
Green Party in Northern Ireland	1	0	6,031	0.9	−0.8
People Before Profit Alliance	0	0	5,438	0.8	+0.7
UK Independence Party	0	0	4.152	0.6	+0.4
Progressive Unionist Party	0	1	1,493	0.2	−0.3
British National Party	0	0	1,252	0.2	0
Workers Party	0	0	1,155	0.2	0
Socialist Party	0	0	819	0.1	0
Procapitalism	0	0	29	0.0	0
Independent	1	0	3,003	n / A	n / A

First preference votes by constituency

The following table shows the results in the 18 constituencies. Several MPs were elected in each constituency. The strongest party is shown in color.

Constituency	DUP		Sinn Féin		UUP		SDLP		Alliance		Other		total
Constituency	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%	number
Belfast East	14,253	44.1	1,030	3.2	3.137	9.7	250	0.8	8,512	26.3	5,165	16.0	32,347
Belfast North	12,412	37.1	10,671	31.9	2,758	8.2	4.025	12.0	2,096	6.3	1,508	4.5	33,470
Belfast South	7,845	24.3	4.038	12.5	4,382	13.6	7,718	23.9	6,390	19.8	1,935	6.0	32,308
Belfast West	2,587	7.5	22,902	66.1	1,471	4.2	4,567	13.2	365	1.1	2,753	7.9	34,645
East Antrim	13,398	46.2	2,369	8.2	4,893	16.9	1,333	4.6	4,509	15.5	2,521	8.7	29,023
East Londonderry	12,807	36.9	7,320	21.1	2,930	8.4	5,189	14.9	1,905	5.5	4,571	13.2	34,722
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	11,720	24.4	19,338	40.3	9,262	19.3	4,606	9.6	845	1.8	2,228	4.6	47,999
Foyle	7.154	18.4	13,200	34.0	0	0.0	13,699	35.3	334	0.9	4,460	11.5	38,847
Lagan Valley	18,854	53.1	1,203	3.4	7,253	20.4	2.165	6.1	4,389	12.4	1,623	4.6	35,487
Mid Ulster	7.127	16.7	21,033	49.2	4,409	10.3	6,279	14.7	398	0.9	3,492	8.2	42,738
Newry and Armagh	6.101	13.1	18,995	40.8	8,718	18.7	10,948	23.5	734	1.6	1,018	2.2	46,514
North Antrim	19.195	47.6	6.152	15.3	4,707	11.7	3,682	9.1	1,848	4.6	4,729	11.7	40,313
North Down	12,412	44.2	293	1.0	2,928	10.4	768	2.7	5,231	18.6	6,466	23.0	28,098
South Antrim	12,317	38.3	4,662	14.5	5,730	17.8	3,406	10.6	4,554	14.2	1,495	4.6	32.164
South Down	5,200	12.5	12,887	30.9	4,409	10.6	14,927	35.8	864	2.1	3,439	8.2	41,726
Strangford	14,469	48.8	902	3.0	6,046	20.4	2,525	8.5	4,284	14.4	1,442	4.9	29,668
Upper spell	11,499	27.1	11,528	27.2	10,426	24.6	4,846	11.4	2,765	6.5	1,298	3.1	42,362
West Tyrone	9,086	23.1	19,699	50.1	4,072	10.4	3,353	8.5	852	2.2	2,241	5.7	39,303
total	198,436	30.0	178,222	26.9	87,531	13.2	94.286	14.2	50,875	7.7	52,384	7.9	661.734

government

The subsequently formed Northern Irish government was composed according to the proportional seat shares of the parties.

Northern Ireland Regional Government 2011
Office	Surname
First Minister	Peter Robinson	DUP
Deputy First Minister	Martin McGuinness	Sinn Féin
Agriculture and Rural Development	Michelle O'Neill	Sinn Féin
Culture, art and leisure	Carál Ní Chuilín	Sinn Féin
Education, training	John O'Dowd	Sinn Féin
Work and training	Stephen Farry	Alliance
Business, trade and investment	Arlene Foster	DUP
environment	Alex Attwood	SDLP
Finance and Human Resources	Sammy Wilson	DUP
Health, social services, public safety	Edwin Poots	DUP
Judiciary	David Ford	Alliance
Regional development	Danny Kennedy	UUP
Social Development	Nelson McCausland	DUP

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Northern Ireland elections. BBC News, May 11, 2011, accessed May 30, 2015 .
^ NI assembly election issues guide: Overview. BBC News, April 8, 2011, accessed May 30, 2015 .
^ Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Northern Ireland Assembly, accessed March 7, 2015 .
^ Elections 2011. The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, accessed May 30, 2015 .

[BBC-1] Northern Ireland elections. BBC News, May 11, 2011, accessed May 30, 2015 .

[2] NI assembly election issues guide: Overview. BBC News, April 8, 2011, accessed May 30, 2015 .

[3] Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Northern Ireland Assembly, accessed March 7, 2015 .

[4] Elections 2011. The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, accessed May 30, 2015 .


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