1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election

The 1998 election to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place on Thursday, 25 June 1998. This was the first election to the new devolved Northern Ireland Assembly. Six members from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constituencies were elected by single transferable vote, giving a total of 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election
25 June 1998
All 108 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly
55 seats needed for a majority
Turnout69.8%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader David Trimble John Hume Ian Paisley
Party UUP SDLP DUP
Leader since 8 September 1995 28 November 1979 30 September 1971
Leader's seat Upper Bann Foyle North Antrim
Last election 30 seats, 24.2% 21 seats, 21.4% 24 seats, 18.8%
Seats won 28 24 20
Seat change 2 3 4
Popular vote 172,225 177,963 145,917
Percentage 21.3% 22.0% 18.5%
Swing 2.9% 0.6% 0.3%
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Gerry Adams John Alderdice Robert McCartney
Party Sinn Féin Alliance UK Unionist
Leader since 13 November 1983 3 October 1987 1995
Leader's seat Belfast West Belfast East North Down
Last election 17 seats, 15.5% 7 seats, 6.5% 3 seats, 3.7%
Seats won 18 6 5
Seat change 1 1 2
Popular vote 142,858 52,636 36,541
Percentage 16.7% 5.6% 4.5%
Swing 1.2% 0.9% 0.8%
  Seventh party Eighth party
 
Leader Hugh Smyth Monica McWilliams & Pearl Sagar
Party PUP NI Women's Coalition
Leader since 1979 1996
Leader's seat Ran in Belfast West (lost) Belfast South (McWilliams)
Ran in Belfast East (lost) (Sagar)
Last election 2 seats, 3.5% 2 seats, 1.0%
Seats won 2 2
Seat change
Popular vote 20,634 13,019
Percentage 2.6% 1.6%
Swing 0.9% 0.6%
Seats won by each party per constituency. Voters elect 6 assembly members from the 18 constituencies.
First Minister before election

New position

 Elected First Minister

David Trimble
UUP

Northern Ireland
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Results

The result was (first preference votes only):[1]

Party Leader Votes % of vote +/- Seats % of seats +/-
SDLP John Hume 177,963 22.0 +0.6 24 22.2 +3
UUP David Trimble 172,225 21.3 -2.9 28 25.9 -2
DUP Ian Paisley 145,917 18.0 -0.8 20 18.5 -4
Sinn Féin Gerry Adams 142,858 17.7 +2.2 18 16.7 +1
Alliance John Alderdice 52,636 6.5 0.0 6 5.6 -1
UK Unionist Robert McCartney 36,541 4.5 +0.8 5 4.6 +2
Independent Unionist 24,339 3.0 N/A 3 2.8 +3
PUP Hugh Smyth 20,634 2.6 -1.0 2 1.9 0
NI Women's Coalition Monica McWilliams 13,019 1.6 +0.6 2 1.9 0
Ulster Democratic Gary McMichael 8,651 1.1 -1.1 0 -2
Independent 5,392 0.7 N/A 0 0
Labour Party NI Malachi Curran 2,729 0.3 N/A 0 0
Workers' Party Tom French 1,989 0.3 -0.3 0 0
NI Conservatives William Hague 1,835 0.2 -0.3 0 0
Ulster Independence Hugh Ross 1,227 0.2 -0.4 0 0
Natural Law James Anderson 832 0.1 0.0 0 0
Socialist Party Joe Higgins 789 0.1 N/A 0 0
Green (NI) 710 0.1 -0.4 0 0
 Total 108 100.0% -2 786,132 100.0%

All parties with over 500 votes listed. Electorate: 1,178,556; Turnout: 823,565 (69.88%); Spoiled votes: 13,248; Valid: 810,317.

Votes summary
Popular vote
SDLP
 
 21.96%
Ulster Unionist
 
 21.25%
DUP
 
 18.14%
Sinn Féin
 
 17.63%
Alliance
 
 6.5%
United Kingdom Unionist
 
 4.51%
Progressive Unionist
 
 2.55%
Women's Coalition
 
 1.61%
Ulster Democratic
 
 1.07%
Independent
 
 3.51%
Other
 
 1.27%

Seats summary
Parliamentary seats
SDLP
 
 22.22%
Ulster Unionist
 
 25.93%
DUP
 
 18.52%
Sinn Féin
 
 16.67%
Alliance
 
 5.56%
United Kingdom Unionist
 
 4.63%
Progressive Unionist
 
 1.85%
Women's Coalition
 
 1.85%
Independent
 
 2.78%

Details

Although the SDLP won the most first preference votes, the Ulster Unionists won the most seats in the Assembly. This has been attributed to several reasons, including:

  • Slightly different turnouts across the province, with the result that in the more staunchly unionist east fewer votes were required to elect an MLA than in the SDLP's heartlands in the west.
  • The Ulster Unionists proved better at "vote balancing" whereby in the rounds of transfers their candidates were less likely to be eliminated earlier on.
  • The Ulster Unionists proved better at attracting transfers from other parties (and due to the vote balancing mentioned above, were more likely to be in a position to benefit from this)

See also

References
  1. http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa98.htm
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