Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1998

25 June 1998
All 108 seats to the Northern Ireland Assembly 55 seats needed for a majority
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%
450px Percentage of seats gained by each of the party.
First Minister before election New position Elected First Minister David Trimble UUP

The first elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly were held on Thursday 25 June 1998. Six members were elected by Single Transferable Vote from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, giving a total of 108 MLAs, or Members of the Legislative Assembly.

Results

The result was (first preference votes only):

	Party	Leader	Seats	% of seats	Votes	% of vote	Rank
	UUP	David Trimble	28	25.9%	172,225	21.28%	2
	SDLP	John Hume	24	22.2%	177,963	21.99%	1
	DUP	Ian Paisley	20	18.5%	145,917	18.03%	3
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	18	16.7%	142,858	17.65%	4
	Alliance	John Alderdice	6	5.6%	52,636	6.50%	5
	UK Unionist	Robert McCartney	5	4.6%	36,541	4.52%	6
	Independent Unionist		3	2.8%	24,339	3.00%	7
	PUP	Hugh Smyth	2	1.9%	20,634	2.55%	8
	NI Women's Coalition	Monica McWilliams	2	1.9%	13,019	1.61%	9
	Ulster Democratic	Gary McMichael	0		8,651	1.07%	10
	Independent		0		5,392	0.69%	*
	Labour Party NI	Malachi Curran	0		2,729	0.34%	11
	Workers' Party	Tom French	0		1,989	0.25%	12
	Conservative	William Hague	0		1,835	0.23%	13
	Ulster Independence	Hugh Ross	0		1,227	0.15%	17
	Natural Law	James Anderson	0		832	0.10%	18
	Socialist Party	Joe Higgins	0		789	0.10%	19
	Green (NI)		0		710	0.09%	20
Total			108	100.0%	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.

¹ Independent candidates were ranked 14, 15 and 16; other independents won fewer than 500 votes.

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

• Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in 1998
• Northern Ireland Assembly