2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election


The 2016 election to the Northern Ireland Assembly was held on 5 May 2016. It was the fifth election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. 1,281,595 individuals were registered to vote in the election. Turnout in the 2016 Assembly election was 703,744, a decline of less than one percentage point from the previous Assembly Election in 2011, but down 15 percentage points from the first election to the Assembly held in 1998.
As in the 2007 and 2011 elections, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin won the most seats, with the DUP winning 38 and Sinn Féin winning 28 of the available 108 seats. The Ulster Unionist Party won 16 seats, the Social Democratic and Labour Party 12 and the Alliance 8, while two seats were won by the Green Party and People Before Profit. The Traditional Unionist Voice and an independent candidate each won one seat.

Change of date

Under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, elections to the Assembly were originally for a four-year term; thus there would have been an election due in May 2015, four years after the 2011 election. Following the introduction of the UK Fixed Term Parliaments Act, this date would have clashed with the 2015 UK general election. The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly elections were postponed for a year to 2016 to avoid this clash.
In May 2013, Theresa Villiers, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced the next Assembly election would be postponed to May 2016, and would be held at fixed intervals of five years thereafter. Section 7 of the Northern Ireland Act 2014 specifies that elections will be held on the first Thursday in May on the fifth calendar year following that in which its predecessor was elected.

End of dual mandate

The Northern Ireland Act 2014 also ends the practice of dual mandate, prohibiting someone being elected to the assembly who is also a member of the House of Commons or Dáil Éireann. At the time the Act was passed, there were three such dual-members: the DUP's Sammy Wilson and Gregory Campbell and the SDLP's Alasdair McDonnell. Wilson and McDonnell resigned from the Assembly after being re-elected to the House of Commons in the 2015 election. Campbell, who was also re-elected as an MP, is retiring from the Assembly at this election.

Earlier dissolution

There are several circumstances in which the Assembly could be dissolved before the date scheduled by virtue of section 31 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

Dissolution motion

Under section 32 of the 1998 Act, the Assembly can be dissolved if a resolution to such an effect is passed by the Assembly, with support of 72 or more members.

Failure to elect the First or deputy First Ministers

The Act provides that if the Assembly fails to elect either the First Minister or deputy First Minister within six weeks, an election is called. Since the enactment of the Northern Ireland Act 2006, the First Minister has been nominated by the largest party overall, and the deputy First Minister has been nominated by the single largest party in the largest community designation to which the largest party overall does not belong.

New Executive Departments

It was proposed that after the May 2016 Election there be a reduction in the number of ministries and departments. The amendments were:
° The Department of Education remains the same.

Candidates

Nominations opened on 30 March 2016 for the assembly election. A full list of candidates is available.
Parties standing in more than one constituency were:
Various independents and smaller parties also stood.

Members not seeking re-election

Alliance

Voting summary

Seats summary

Distribution of seats by constituency

Party affiliation of the six Assembly members returned by each constituency. The first column indicates the party of the Member of the House of Commons returned by the corresponding parliamentary constituency in the general election of 7 May 2015.
No.2015 MPConstituencyCandi-
dates
Total
seats
PBP
Green
Sinn
Féin
SDLP
Alli-
ance
UUP
DUP
TUV
Ind.
Seat
gained
by		Seat
formerly
held by
1
DUP		North Antrim-6--1--131----
2
DUP		East Antrim-6--1-113-----
3
UUP		South Antrim-6--1-113-----
4
DUP		Belfast North-6--21--3-----
5
Belfast West-61-41-----PBPSF-
6
SDLP		Belfast South-6-1111-2--
Green

DUP
SDLP

UUP
-
7
DUP		Belfast East-6----213-----
8
Ind.		North Down-6-1--113-----
9
DUP		Strangford-6----123-----
10
DUP		Lagan Valley-6----123--UUPDUP-
11
DUP		Upper Bann-6--2--22--SFSDLP-
12
SDLP		South Down-6--22-11-----
13
Newry and Armagh-6--31-11-----
14
UUP		Fermanagh & South Tyrone-6--21-12--SDLPSF-
15
West Tyrone-6--31-11-----
16
Mid Ulster-6--31-11-----
17
SDLP		Foyle-61-22--1--PBPSDLP-
18
DUP		East Londonderry-6--11--3-1---
18-1082228128163811
--+2+1–1–2-+3--–1–1–1-
-108-1291481338121 UKIP1 NI21-
-------–3--+1+1+1-
218108-129148163811--
256108-1281671836-11 Prog. U.-
108--241862730-11 Prog. U.1 UKUP-
108--182462820-42 Prog. U.5 UKUP, 2 NIWC-

Percentage of each constituency's first-preference votes. Four highest percentages in each constituency shaded; absolute majorities underlined. The constituencies are arranged in the geographic order described for the table above; click the icon next to "Constituency" to see them in alphabetical order.
No.2015
MP
MP's %
of 2015
vote		ConstituencyPBP
Green
Sinn
Féin
SDLP
Alli-
ance
UUP
DUP
TUV
Ind.
Others.
Total
votes
Eligible
elector-
ate		Turn-
out
%
1DUP43.2%North Antrim1.312.97.53.210.743.117.93.3--52.3%
2DUP36.1%East Antrim2.18.13.814.620.236.15.19.9--50.5%
3UUP32.7%South Antrim1.713.29.68.922.237.53.81.41.7--50.4%
4DUP47.0%Belfast North3.52.226.510.67.05.435.01.80.97.1--51.6%
5SF54.2%Belfast West22.90.954.57.30.81.810.41.5--56.7%
6SDLP24.5%Belfast South9.614.220.016.46.722.01.31.38.5--53.6%
7DUP49.3%Belfast East5.92.50.428.711.136.72.43.09.4--56.5%
8Ind.49.2%North Down12.71.01.316.815.541.71.94.44.7--49.0%
9DUP44.4%Strangford2.82.08.310.719.543.04.35.93.4--49.7%
10DUP47.9%Lagan Valley2.92.77.59.521.247.23.32.13.6--52.7%
11DUP32.7%Upper Bann1.124.99.53.121.631.12.60.16.0--53.6%
12SDLP42.3%South Down2.031.131.45.48.512.36.62.8--53.1%
13SF41.1%Newry & Armagh0.740.918.21.014.116.75.52.9--58.4%
14UUP46.4%Fermanagh & S. Tyrone1.940.08.51.112.832.72.50.6--63.5%
15SF43.5%West Tyrone1.242.011.01.311.422.08.92.1--59.1%
16SF48.7%Mid Ulster0.946.715.21.211.918.14.61.4--57.9%
17SDLP47.9%Foyle10.50.428.530.00.63.611.913.90.8--55.3%
18DUP42.2%East Londonderry1.321.89.53.78.336.83.59.75.4--50.1%
182.02.724.012.07.012.629.23.43.93.3703,7441,281,59554.9%
+1.2+1.8–2.9–2.2–0.7–0.6–0.8+1.0+1.7+1.0+42,008+71,586–0.7%
0.926.914.27.713.230.02.52.22.3661,7361,210,00955.6%-
1.726.215.25.214.930.1-3.82.8690,3131,107,90462.9%-
0.423.517.03.722.725.7-5.62.8692,0261,097,52663.1%-
0.117.622.06.521.318.1-10.93.5823,5651,178,55669.9%-

Sinn Féin