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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 Fein, 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

Background

The process

The campaign

The results

Executive committee seats

Opinion polls

MLAs who lost their seats at the election

MLAs who stood down at the election

MLAs deselected by their party

MLAs deceased since 2007 election

MLAs deceased since 2003 election

See also

References

External links

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]

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.

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]

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. 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 person of Chinese origin to be elected to a parliamentary institution in Britain or Ireland: 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	Expected Executive seats
Ian Paisley	46	'36'	+6	207,721	'30.1'	+4.4	5
Gerry Adams	37	'28'	+4	180,573	'26.2'	+2.6	4
Mark Durkan	35	'16'	−2	105,164	'15.2'	−1.8	1
Reg Empey	38	'18'	−9	103,145	'14.9'	−7.7	2
David Ford	18	'7'	+1	36,139	'5.2'	+1.5	0
''N/A''	20	'1'	±0	19,471	'2.8'	+1.9	0
John Barry[10]	13	'1'	+1	11,985	'1.7'	+1.3	0
Bob McCartney	13	'0'	−1	10,452	'1.5'	+0.7
Dawn Purvis	3	'1'	±0	3,822	'0.6'	−0.6	0
David Cameron	9	'0'	—	3,457	'0.5'	+0.3
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh	6	'0'	—	2,522	'0.4'	''N/A''
Goretti Horgan[11]	1	'0'	—	2,045	'0.3'	−0.1
Nigel Farage	1	'0'	—	1,229	'0.2'	''N/A''
John Lowry[12]	6	'0'	—	975	'0.1'	−0.1
Gordon Hewitt	1	'0'	—	774	'0.1'	''N/A''
Peter Hadden[13]	2	'0'	—	473	'0.1'	+0.1
Ronnie Carroll	4	'0'	—	221	'0.0'	''N/A''
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

Executive committee seats

Parties who won seats are allocated places on the executive committee using the D'Hondt method. Presuming the executive is set up, the First Minister will be from the DUP and the Deputy First Minister will be from SF. The choice of other positions will then go in the order DUP, SF, DUP, UUP, SDLP, SF, DUP, SF, DUP, UUP.

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:^[15]

Party		Percentage
25
22
20
16
9
3
1
1
1
1

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.

MLAs who stood down at the election

★ Eileen Bell (Alliance/Speaker, North Down)^[16]

★ Seamus Close (Alliance, Lagan Valley)^[17]

★ Geraldine Dougan (Sinn Féin, Mid Ulster)^[18]

★ Sean Farren (SDLP, North Antrim)^[19]

★ Patricia Lewsley^† (SDLP, Lagan Valley)^[20]

★ Philip McGuigan (Sinn Féin, North Antrim)^[21]

★ Dermot Nesbitt (UUP, South Down)^[22]

★ Tom O'Reilly (Sinn Féin, Fermanagh and South Tyrone)^[23]

★ Kathy Stanton (Sinn Féin, North Belfast)

★ John Taylor (UUP)^[24]

★ David Trimble (UUP, Upper Bann)^[25]

★ Jim Wilson (UUP, South Antrim)^[26]
† Patricia Lewsley stood down prior to the dissolution of the assembly

MLAs deselected by their party

★ Wilson Clyde (DUP, South Antrim)

★ George Ennis (DUP, Strangford)^[27]

★ Paul Girvan (DUP, South Antrim)^[28]

★ Davy Hyland (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)^[29]

★ Patricia O'Rawe (Sinn Féin, Newry and Armagh)^[30]

★ 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

MLAs deceased since 2007 election

★ George Dawson (DUP, East Antrim)

MLAs deceased since 2003 election

★ David Ervine (PUP, Belfast East)^[31]

★ Michael Ferguson (Sinn Féin, Belfast West)^[32]

See also

★ Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 2007

★ Irish general election, 2007

★ Scottish Parliament election, 2007

★ Welsh Assembly election, 2007

References

1. http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/theassembly/main.htm
2. http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/transitional/index_trans1.htm
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6154484.stm
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6270535.stm
5. St Andrews Agreement 2006 Annex A: Paragraph 9 ''Practical changes to the operation of the institutions''
6. Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006 16C(C) (page 11) ".. nominating officer of the largest political party"
7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6363019.stm
8. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1494941.ece
9. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,2010605,00.html
10. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/regulatory-issues/regpoliticalparties.cfm?frmGB=0&frmPartyID=390&frmType=partydetail
11. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/regulatory-issues/regpoliticalparties.cfm?frmGB=0&frmPartyID=239&frmType=partydetail
12. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/regulatory-issues/regpoliticalparties.cfm?frmGB=0&frmPartyID=195&frmType=partydetail
13. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/regulatory-issues/regpoliticalparties.cfm?frmGB=0&frmPartyID=65&frmType=partydetail
14. http://www.nwipp-newspapers.com/fh/free/288205231659444.php
15.
Snapshot reveals the voters' mood
16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4517018.stm
17. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6146008.stm
18. http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=205813826&p=zx58y453z
19. http://www1.u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?pt=n&id=78829
20. http://www.u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?pt=n&id=78656
21. http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/17321
22. http://uuptoday.org/newsroom/2006/12/13/nesbitt-to-stand-down-from-elected-politics/
23. http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/17301
24. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6352311.stm
25. http://davidtrimble.org/latestnews.htm
26. http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/12/31/story291395.html
27. http://www.belfasttoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=3425&ArticleID=2045111
28. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,,1995428,00.html
29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6194757.stm
30. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6197049.stm
31. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6242215.stm
32. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5377630.stm

External links

★ RTÉ News - Northern Ireland 2007 elections

★ BBC Guide to the elections

★ Electoral Commission guide to election

★ Candidates Statements (nominators/addresses etc.)